Support NSS Headquarters relocation to Horse Cave, KY

The National Speleological Society office and library in Huntsville, AL have outgrown the available space. Both facilities should be doubled in size and there is a need for storage space. Additionally, the Board has voted to establish a museum with the office and library. The current structures are on the Shelta Cave Preserve, which is owned by the Society. New construction and human presence may cause damage on fragile karst areas, and directly to caves. In the interest of protecting the underlying cave it has been determined that further building or construction on that site would not be acceptable.

We propose that the NSS Office Complex relocate to the town of Horse Cave in southcentral Kentucky. We arrive at this deduction from careful consideration of financial resources, the available options, and our vision of future growth for the NSS.

Horse Cave, with an approximate population of 2,300, has a long history of cave-related activities, more recently because of the efforts of the American Cave Conservation Association and American Cave Museum. The American Cave Museum is the premier museum about caves in the United States and draws an estimated 10-12,000 visitors each year. Hidden River Cave underlies downtown, with more than 10 miles of surveyed passage and a hydrologic connection to the 22 miles of surveyed passage in Hicks Cave.

The large and scenic entrance to Hidden River Cave is the centerpiece of the 8-acre ACCA facility and is utilized for commercial cave tours and as an educational laboratory.

Horse Cave is situated along a major interstate corridor (I-65), is 72 miles south of Louisville, and 102 miles north of Nashville. Both Louisville and Nashville have international airports. Near to Horse Cave, Mammoth Cave National Park attracts between 1-1.5 million visitors each year – a potential source of membership and volunteers. With the status of world’s longest cave, Mammoth attracts a world experts in karst science and conservation.

To view this proposal in more detail and to review all the proposals please visit this web site:
http://www.caves.org/info/headquarters/index.shtml