Celebrate Our Public Lands on September 27

National Public Lands Day is organized each year and lead by the National Environmental Education Foundation in partnership with the National Park Service and other federal agencies. It's not just about cleaning up trash, its also a chance to connect to public lands and your local community!

Find an Event Near You!

Brave the Cave:

A National Public Lands Day event in Carlsbad, New Mexico

The Bureau of Land Management Carlsbad Field Office manages hundreds of caves on public lands. Here is a chance to see what recreational caving is all about! Led by local volunteer cavers, you can learn about the wonderful underground world, including how we can best protect it. Helmets, lights, and gloves will be provided. To enter the cave, you must descend a twenty foot ladder. Inside the cave, you must walk over slippery and uneven terrain, with optional crawls available. This event is the morning of Saturday, September 20th. Register to sign up and choose your tour time. Participants will be emailed the meeting location.

Nomination Deadline November 15th

At the awards banquet during each annual National Speleological Society (NSS) Convention, the NSS recognizes exceptional people both in and outside of the Society by presenting awards for outstanding accomplishment.

Please consider nominating an outstanding individual in one of these categories:

• (*New) Alvin McDonald Award
• Science Award
• Certificate of Merit
• Victor A. Schmidt Conservation Award
• Group Conservation Award
• Fellow of the Society
• Honorary Member Award
• Steve Hudson Award for Cave Rescue
• Lew Bicking Award
• James G. Mitchell Award
• Outstanding Landowner-Caver Relations Award
• The William J. Stephenson Award for Outstanding Service
• Spelean Arts and Letters Award
• Peter M. Hauer Spelean History Award

Cave and Karst Scientist in Parks Internships

Scientist in Parks applications are open! All opportunities close on October 12, 2025. This year there are multiple positions that are related to caves and karst in National Parks. Check your eligibility before applying. Start dates vary from January to April 2026.

Here are a couple of cave and karst SIP positions:

• Biology Assistant, Mammoth Cave NP, Kentucky
• Cave and Karst Assistant, El Malpais NM, New Mexico
• Natural Resource Management Assistant, Oregon Caves NM, Oregon
• Science Communication Assistant, Oregon Caves NM, Oregon

Welcome Maggie Furtner

On August 25, Maggie Furtner started her position as a Postdoctoral Scholar for NCKRI. Maggie's dissertation research focused on using remote sensing and machine learning to build prediction models that located caves and sinkholes in the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa. She will help conduct vulnerability assessments, build karst development models, and develop cave prediction studies for the institute and national parks.

Investigating Microbial Communities in Great Basin National Park

New Mexico Tech graduate student Evan Bowen along with researchers from the University of New Mexico are working to better understand microbial communities and speleogenesis in Great Basin National Park.