![]() ![]() The Blanton tract is adjacent to the U.S. They have documented many of the extensive, multi-level passages beneath the Blanton tract. Joseph Valley Grotto, a caving organization associated with the IKC, discovered the system four years ago. Once the Blanton family became aware of the scientific importance of what lies underneath, they were very much in favor of this disposition of their property. Forest Service and the Indiana Karst Conservancy (IKC) - long time Conservancy partners - the Conservancy was able to secure the property. The Blanton family farm has protected the property for many years. The Nature Conservancy purchased the property from Orange Circuit Court Judge Larry Blanton and his sister Paula Blanton-Foster. The recently installed rural water system that parallels the roads had made the property attractive to residential developers, and so increased the importance to protect this land. The Blanton tract, our newest acquisition in the area, is bounded on three sides by county roads. New homes and their corresponding septic systems are the greatest threat to the underground system. Water coursing through the shafts causes some to collapse, then the stream winds its way along other paths, carving new channels. Flash flooding in the passages is common, which continues the cave's evolution. The complex is not only fragile, but is very dangerous because of its twisting channels and vertical shafts. Cave beetles, blind crickets, blind cavefish, and blind crayfish populate this subterranean world. The species isolated by the geologic conditions of the Lost River have developed unique adaptations. "With relatively so little known about subterranean systems, it's important that places like this are formally protected in order to study them in their pristine state." The cave species have developed in relative isolation. "This latest acquisition is a biological hot spot," Lewis said. Julian Lewis of the University of Louisville has been researching southern Indiana's cave systems for the past several years, finding and documenting rare and previously unknown species. The cave system beneath a recent acquisition adjacent to Wesley Chapel Gulf, harbors at least 25 cave species - three of which are new to science. The unique and fragile system has global significance. There is no other site in Indiana that matches the Lost River system in terms of the dynamic subterranean hydrology (water movement). Depending upon how much water is moving through the system, you could have water in all of the levels. The system can be thought of as a three-dimensional river delta. When the complete Lost River system is mapped, it might well be the state's largest. The Nature Conservancy is protecting what is documented as the third largest subterranean system in the state. ![]()
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