Graffiti Removal Project
Restoration Slide Show
- April 15, 2006: entrance area corridor leading to entrance room
- May 20-21, 2006: entrance room
- June 17-18, 2006: Sit-up room in crawlway and T-room area
- July 22-23, 2006: sit-up room in crawlway, T-room area, and LV Cushing Room area
- August 26-27, 2006: crawlway, T, and LV Cushing Room area
- September 30-October 1, 2006: crawlway, T, and LV Cushing Room area
- October 21-22, 2006: crawlway, T, and LV Cushing Room area
- November 25, 2006: LV Cushing Room
- December 23, 2006: LV Cushing Room
- January 20, 2007 (SJVG participation & support): LV Cushing Room area
- March 10-11, 2007 (CIG participation): LV Cushing area
- May 12-13, 2007: LV Cushing area
- June 9-10, 2007 (with Cleveland Grotto participation): LV Cushing area & passage left of the T
- July 7-8, 2007: LV Cushing area and passage left of the T
Scheduled Work Dates
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Currently, there are no longer any scheduled work dates. However, assistance is welcome: please contact Bill Baus (info below) for details or to arrange a project workday.
May 2016 Update
The work with the portable sandblaster in the Volcano Passage was wrapped up earlier this year, and equipment and supplies were removed from the area. Graffiti removal efforts with hand-held drills and wire brushes in other parts of the cave are ongoing.
March 2009 Update
Although sandblasting is not currently being done, work is continuing in the Volcano Passage, removing blast material. The Peppersauce Cave Conservation Project's sandblasting equipment was returned to them in Fall 2008.
Historical Markings Documentation Project
An effort led by Randy Jackson was done, in which historical 'graffiti' was searched for and documented accordingly. For a review of the findings, please click here to view the document.
Graffiti Removal Progress
Click on each date for more information on what was accomplished.
Background
Buckner Cave had long been the object of spray-painted graffiti, as well as other types. Although various efforts to remove it have taken place at different times, and has recently increased on a regular basis by a small group of regular visitors, the amount of graffiti present in the cave is staggering.
Around 2003, owner Dick Blenz participated in a demonstration of a process of removing cave graffiti by sandblasting with equipment designed for that purpose by Arizona caver Ray Keeler, and now owned by the Peppersauce Cave Conservation Project (PCCP) and managed by Ray. Dick requested at that time to use the equipment in Buckner Cave, and was put on a waiting list. The equipment was recently obtained for use, and Ray Keeler gave a training session on April 15, 2006 in the entrance room of the cave.
The Timpanogos Grotto website http://www.caves.org/grotto/timpgrotto/BloomingtonGraffiti.html has a summary and 8-minute video of the large graffiti removal effort in Bloomington Cave in southern Utah near St. George. They put together seven project weekends in a four-month period during Spring 2005. The link to the video is near the top of the above page.
To view a different document with more details and specifics of the equipment, and other information pertaining to consideration of use at the Richard Blenz Nature Conservancy, visit http://www.caves.org/grotto/big/sandblaster.pdf
Volunteer!
Interested in helping? Please contact Project Coordinator Bill Baus for more information.
land line: 812-339-1210
e-mail: baus1210@gmail.com
(To send to this address, you MUST manually remove the hyphen preceding the @ sign. This is to deter spam.)