Significant Caves Designation Call for National Forest System Lands

By Limaris (Lima) Soto.

The United States Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service manages diverse cave and karst resources across the national forests and grasslands. The Forest Service has responsibility under the Federal Cave Resources Protection Act of 1988 to designate significant caves and provide for their protection and preservation. The act requires periodic updating of the significant caves inventory. The last official Forest Service request for updates was in 2017.

Caves must be nominated and designated to be listed as significant. The Federal Cave Resources Protection Act requires that once nominated, a cave must be afforded protection until a significance decision is reached. Caves can be nominated by the public, partners, or Forest Service staff by using the Significant Cave Nomination Form (PDF, 608 KB). To be designated, a cave needs to meet one or more of seven criteria pertaining to biological, cultural, geological, hydrological, recreational and/or educational/scientific values as described in the act. Caves that have already have determined to be significant within Special Geologic Areas, Research Natural Areas or National Monuments do not need to be renominated. A finding of significance must be recorded in a finding/decision document signed and dated by a forest supervisor.

The act specifically exempts the disclosure of significant cave location information from the Freedom of Information Act provisions. Sensitive cave resources, whether significant or not, may also be protected from disclosure under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the Archaeological Resource Protection Act of 1979 and/or the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act of 2009.

Use the updated Significant Cave Nomination Form (PDF, 608 KB) to nominate caves in your area!

Refer to Title 36, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 290 for nomination criteria information.