Cave Research Foundation Inc

Programs: Cave and karst research, management, and cartography: the primary focus of the foundation is assisting government land managers who are responsible for cave and karst areas. Support includes inventorying caves and karst features, developing management plans to protect these unique resources, constructing protective gates on sensitive caves, performing biological and other inventories in the caves, and systematically mapping the caves. Cooperative agreements are in place with the mammoth cave national park, carlsbad caverns np, buffalo national river, mark twain national forest, lava beds national monument, sequoia-kings canyon np, and others. The foundation has a pool of over 200 active volunteers who do the actual work under the guidance of the various agency land managers. Over 17,500 hours of volunteer time were donated to the foundation in 2016-17.

publication and distribution of cave-related books and maps: the foundation publishes and distributes a variety of cave-related technical, scientific, and popular books and maps related to the science, history, exploration, and management of caves and karst landforms. Most of the books are sold through the visitor centers in national parks that contain caves.

graduate research grants: the foundation awards a variable number of graduate-level research grants each year to support thesis research in fields related to cave and karst studies. The grants are awarded solely on the merits of the grant requests. Grant requests are reviewed by an independent committee of academic researchers working in cave and karst-related fields. Grants are normally not awarded directly to the recipient, but are sent to their university and the university administers the grant for the recipient. Grant recipients are required to publish their research results in a public document, which can be the foundation's "crf newsletter" or other appropriate publication. There were five grants awarded in 2016-17.

publication of newsletter and bi-annual reports: the foundation produces a quarterly newsletter that is distributed to foundation members and numerous recipients in various government agencies with cave and karst resources. The newsletter includes reports on recent foundation activities and research. The foundation also produces a comprehensive bi-annual report summarizing its activities during the period it covered. The reports also include summaries of the research done by recipients of the foundation's graduate research grants.