Extraordinary Women Leaders in Speleology (EWLS)

Zokaites works at the Virgina Department Conservation & Recreation as an Education Coordinator. Her combined passions for caves and science education has led to 16 years of teaching about groundwater and the unique habitats found in karst terrain. With 40 years of caving experience Carol has surveyed miles of cave passage and participated in many bat hibernacula surveys. In 1993 she authored "Project Underground - A Natural Resource Guidebook" which offers insight and expert help for teaching children about caves (available at the NSS Bookstore). Besides this, she is a dedicated volunteer. She serves as the Karst Education Coordinator for Nature Serve, a non-profit organization of about 1,000 conservation professionals work to ensure that relevant and reliable science is driving important conservation action. She is also the Virginia Karst Education Coordinator of Project Underground a non-profit that serves economic and environmental justice by providing informational,

Quinlan always knew she wanted to be an artist. Her mother spent 30 years in family research that inspired her and at Western Kentucky University she received an art degree specializing in sculpture, in 1979. Her first book about the history of Mammoth Cave called "Beneath Their Feet," took six years to finish. It is a fictional novel about Mammoth Cave and its people - stories of mummies, earthquakes and a doomed hospital in a cave, dynamite and thievery. Here is a history spanning the first 130 years of the longest cave in the world. Four generations living on Mammoth Cave Ridge until the government bought their farm to make room for one of the country?s most colorful National Parks, Beneath Their Feet is a colorful tapestry interwoven between the real and the imagined involving the lives of the Penn and Lamber families. SOURCES http://www.authorsden.com http://bookstore.caves.org

Stephanie Schwabe, University of Kentucky scientist and lecturer, is most known for being the first scientist ever to study the Black Hole of South Andros, a flooded, 150-foot vertical cave in the Bahamas. She has won awards, been the subject of books and documentary films, and is the author of the 2009 book "Living in Darkness" (available in the NSS bookstore) and 18 others along with numerous articles, publications, and abstracts. She was also named as one of the world's top 40 cave divers by Diver International, a British group. This amazing woman is educated and talented too. She has a bachelors from Mississippi State University and a doctorate from the University of Bristol in England and she's raced sailboats and competed in competitive swimming. Schwabe took up cave diving about 25 years ago purely as a scientific tool. "I was finishing up my master's degree, looking at caves located above sea level," she said. "But I realized that to get

As a caver with almost 30 years of experience, Lois Manno brings a uniquely personal point of view to writing a book such as this, since Lois herself is one of the fine artists who has fallen under the spell of Carlsbad Caverns. She has coordinated several fine art exhibits focusing on speleological art, and was an early director of the National Speleological Society's Fine Arts Salon. Lois has a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Art and has lectured on both art and caving. She is a Fellow of the Cave Research Foundation and is also a Fellow of the National Speleological Society. She is the director of the Carlsbad Caverns Art Exhibit/Cavern Arts Project, and has been extensively involved in promoting this exhibit for the last two years, through fundraising and public relations. Her twenty-five year professional involvement in printing and graphic design gives her a unique combination of skills as a writer and designer. Her relationship with the National Park Service has been longstan

Algeria Tassili nAjjer cave painting, tattoed woman SOURCE www.soniahalliday.com

Lois Manno, Director of the Caverns Art Project, spent three years putting together a long term changing art exhibit that was first revealed in October 2008 as part of the dedication of Carlsbad Caverns National Park newly renovated visitors center on the 85th anniversary of the establishment of the park as a national monument. The exhibit called Underground Visions: Carlsbad Caverns Through the Artist's Eye, featured 25 original Ansel Adams prints, many of which had never been seen by the public. The images are believed to have been taken in the early 1930s and were privately held. Adams was unhappy with the photos he made at the caverns and destroyed some of his prints. "Cave photography can be challenging and even Ansel Adams could not escape that fact," Manno said. It also featured photographs by Carlsbad photographer Ray Davis who was among the first photographers to go into the cave after it was discovered by Jim White, more than 100 years ago. It also incl

This amazing lady began caving in 1999, while studying at Berry College. In 2001, she became involved in rescue with the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Rescue Service. In 2008, she became an instructor with the National Cave Rescue Commission (NCRC) where she developed a passion for technical rigging and rope rescue. She is a Registered Nurse who maintains an ACLS, BLS, and a BLS instructor certification through the American Heart Association, and who specializes in the Cardiovascular ICU. Rebecca's full time job is as a SPRAT Level 3 Regional Manager for Over the Edge.   SOURCES www.overtheedgeusa.com tribune.com   http://caves.org Image: www.voice-

This Utah woman went to Iceland on a journey to remember her younger brother. He had just died of cancer and it was her way of honoring his dream. During this adventure, she met Rubric Bornsen, a photographer, and he showed her around. This intimate proposal was captured in a remote ice cave near a glacier in Iceland has now been seen by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Check out the video along with the hundreds of thousands who have enjoyed this special moment. VEMO PROPOSAL www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/01/cave-proposal-iceland-lawless-bjornsson_n_5070991.html SOURCE www.kutv.com/news/top-stories/stories/vid_10485.shtml

Jamie Hubert is a St. Francois State Park Naturalist who loves bats and history. Jamie wrote a proposal in 2005 to help fund a project to interpret the Civil War for the Missouri State Museum which received the NAI Region VI Small Grants Program award at the National Association of Interpretation (NAI) Region VI workshop in Fort Smith, Ark. That year she was also honored with a resolution from the Missouri House of Representatives for her exemplary work during Capitol tours. In fact, Jamie leads a lot of hikes and tours. She lead the St. Francois State Park 50th anniversary hike and several hikes for the Missouri Histological Association Spring 2008 herpetological survey, which yeilded more than 543 individual reptiles and amphibians, representing a total of 32 species and six new county records: Marbled Salamander, Cope's Gray Treefrog, Broad-headed Skink, Northern Rough Greensnake, Rough Earthsnake, and the Ornate Box Turtle. Besides this, Jamie volunteers with conservation