Cow Springs

[MichaelAngelo]

Cow springs has had a history with non-cave divers and it may be hard to eliminate this. For the many years I have used Cow,and before the CDS purchased it,it has been used as a site for open water and uncertified cavern divers,plus artifact hunters would dig up the surrounding land,which has caused some of the erosional issues. Since access to the property is so easy with a couple back ways onto the property,the CDS will be plagued with things like this for years to come.

I appreciate Michael Angelo eliminating the grafitti,because basically grafitti begets more grafitti. The NFSA did a big project of eliminating old grafitti at Jug Hole,from before the state purchased this site. This was a multi-teared project,with us learning how to do this along the way-because you want to eliminate the grafitti and not cause more damage. We are in the process of documenting the techniques used,and writing it up as a "how to" manual. Lessons learned is very superifical scratches can be removed with anything from a finger to a nylon bristle brush. The deeper the grafitti starts to involve different stiffness of brushes,and all the way up to wite brushes and scaling tools powered by a scuba cylinder.

When the graffiti was reported I emailed the CDS Bod and asked if they would like me to look at it and suggest a fix. When talking to the Bod it was suggested that if I thought I could repair it go for it. The grafetti is old dated from 2000 and at least 3/4 deep. I used sculpting tools I removed it reshaping the rock with natural shallows and round over removing all tool marks. Knowing Kelly's work at jug I am convinced the white spots where I carved will patina back to its natureal color, if left untouched. I shot before and after pics for documentation purposes so that we can learn. Every time we do this it places like Cow and Jug we learn more on how to retire systems. FYI I am hesitant to post pics or details because we want all efforts to go thru the Bods and land owners. Forgive typos posting from phone with fat fingers

[Kelly Jessop]

When the graffiti was reported I emailed the CDS Bod and asked if they would like me to look at it and suggest a fix. When talking to the Bod it was suggested that if I thought I could repair it go for it. The grafetti is old dated from 2000 and at least 3/4 deep. I used sculpting tools I removed it reshaping the rock with natural shallows and round over removing all tool marks. Knowing Kelly's work at jug I am convinced the white spots where I carved will patina back to its natureal color, if left untouched. I shot before and after pics for documentation purposes so that we can learn. Every time we do this it places like Cow and Jug we learn more on how to retire systems. FYI I am hesitant to post pics or details because we want all efforts to go thru the Bods and land owners. Forgive typos posting from phone with fat fingers

Thanks Michael for the great work you did. I really think the NSS publication "Cave Restoration" needs another chapter for the submerged caves.

[Ken Hill]

Thanks Michael for the great work you did. I really think the NSS publication "Cave Restoration" needs another chapter for the submerged caves.

Make sure it reads that the Cow violator was caught, paid some $9000.00 out in attorney fees, fines and restitution.

Thanks to Michael and others who took valuable before and after pictures. Without them the prosecutor was not able to imagine his ability to dive that deep and that far into the cave without considerable risk to himself. It made the difference.