News Release

Cave Research Foundation Receives Regional National Park Service Award

Two members of the Cave Research Foundation kayak inside Mammoth Cave on the Roaring River. Accessing some areas of the cave requires swimming or kayaking through water filled passages

Rick Olson

News Release Date: August 2, 2022

Contact: Molly Schroer, 270-758-2192

Mammoth Cave National Park’s longtime partner, the Cave Research Foundation (CRF), has been awarded the 2021 George and Helen Hartzog Regional Group Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service from the National Park Service’s (NPS) Volunteers-In-Parks program. This award recognizes the exemplary contribution the CRF has made to Mammoth Cave National Park and the community through their ongoing scientific cave research and discoveries.

“The CRF has been a part of the Mammoth Cave team since 1957,” said superintendent Barclay Trimble. “Their cooperation has been essential for the successful management and protection of the park’s extensive cave and karst resources. Each year CRF holds at least ten expeditions at the park with the goal of mapping and exploring the vast reaches of Mammoth Cave. CRF team members squeeze their way into tight and unknown cracks and crevices all for the sake of making new discoveries and adding to our knowledge of the cave system.”

The CRF actively supports Mammoth Cave National Park through their continued exploration, scientific discovery, and volunteerism.  Their expeditions in 2021 led to the addition of eight miles of cave passageways found within the Mammoth Cave system. The additional mileage was mapped and documented through hours of survey work completed by the CRF and brought the official length of the world's longest cave to 420 miles. In addition to their exploration work, their program is critical to supplying information to the park’s strategic management plan, and provides park staff, interns, and other volunteers an opportunity to increase their knowledge of cave exploration by participating in their cave expeditions.

The Cave Research Foundation (CRF) is a private, non-profit organization who is dedicated to facilitating research, management and interpretation of caves and karst resources, forming partnerships to study, protect and preserve cave resources and karst areas, and promoting the long term conservation of caves and karst ecosystems.

The George and Helen Hartzog Awards for Outstanding Volunteer Service were established through a bequest from former NPS Director George B. Hartzog, Jr. and his wife, Helen. Both recognized the need to make it easier for citizens to donate, without compensation, their time and talents to the agency and dedicated time to the legislation that created the Volunteers-in-Parks (VIP) program. The Hartzogs remembered the NPS VIP program in their wills and made a generous donation to the National Park Foundation, which created the awards program.

Every year approximately 2,000 volunteers provide over 46,000 hours of service in a variety of activities at Mammoth Cave National Park including visitor services, special event assistance, litter removal inside the cave and along park trails, cave survey work, maintaining backcountry campsites and trails, removing non-native plant species, and assisting campground staff as campground hosts.  

To learn how you can be involved in Mammoth Cave National Park's volunteer program, check out the latest volunteer opportunities on the Mammoth Cave’s Volunteer website.