TNC’s Interior Highlands team will use the data from Slay’s research to overlay areas of high biodiversity with those of high risk to map karst priorities in the region. Once they have those priority areas, team members can figure out where to focus resources for the greatest impact, says Holly Neill, The Nature Conservancy’s deputy director of conservation policy in Missouri.
Often, the solutions to the problems facing karst systems start at the top. Sources of food and water enter the karst system from the surface, falling into caves or following the downward flow of water as it sinks farther and farther into the earth. That’s important for those species that depend on these gifts from above. However, pollutants travel the same pathways to reach the
underground. The porous nature of the landscape can offer direct access for storm runoff and excess nutrients that plunge into sinkholes, springs and other natural features. “If you don’t protect your karst system, you could taint a really biodiverse system—and your drinking water supply,” Neill says. Curbing erosion and reducing runoff can help keep harmful chemicals from entering caves and underground waterways. Preventing harmful materials from coming in is a lot easier than trying to pull them out. Protecting those systems will take a region-wide effort. Just as the caves cross state lines, so does TNC.
U.S. Forest Service National Park Service Department of Defense
TNC Preserves and Easements Ozarks and Ouachita Mts. Ecoregions
State Lands Other Protected
THIS PAGE TOP Cave Spring is one of more than 7,000 caves in Missouri. © Bill Duncan THIS PAGE BOTTOM Protected areas of the U.S. Interior Highlands. Produced by TNC in Oklahoma (C. Hise)
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