Extraordinary Women Leaders in Speleology (EWLS)

Shelly Colatskie, cave ecologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation has been surveying bats in in Sequiota Cave and the results are looking good. Last year she found 72 tri-colored bats and now there are 112. She is also testing for White-Nose Syndrome (WNS). During last year's investigation in two bats were found to have WNS. Initial reports show no visual evidence of WNS, which is a good sign. Results of the cotton swab DNA tests should be ready by late summer. Several species of bats, including endangered gray bats, use the cave at different times of the year. During the summer, educational bat viewing events are available at the mouth of the cave where 4,000 to 6,000 gray bats that come out at dusk to feed on insects. However, the cave has been closed to protect the bats until further notice. Sources: News Leader ,  USFWS/Ann Froschauer  and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters

Two 7700-year-old women were discovered in a far east Russia cave called Chertovy Vorota or the Devil’s Gate Cave in English. The site was of particular interest because the skeletons were found with pottery, harpoons, and the remnants of nets and mats woven from twisted blades of wild sedge grass; considered by many researchers a rudimentary form of early agriculture. Hungarian graduate student Veronika Siska was sequenced the genome to compare it to modern Europeans and Asians and revealed  an interesting link to modern culture. The two Devil’s Gate Cave women are related to the Ulchi, indigenous people live a few hundred kilometers north of the cave where they have long fished, hunted, and grown food and other people who speak the endangered 75 or so Tungusic languages spoken in eastern Siberia and China. Sources: Science Mag,  wiki commons

Shelly Colatskie has been a Cave Ecologist at Missouri Department of Conservation for 6 years. During this time she has worked with numerous caving and government organizations to preserve and study bats. She even worked with Missouri Bat Census , an organization founded by Kirsten Alvey-Mudd , an Extraordinary Woman Caver.  In February 2017 she received the G. Andy Runge Wildlife Award for the Missouri Department of Conservation from the Missouri Chapter of the Wildlife Society for making the Sodalis Nature Preserve in Hannibal a reality. The mine passages provide hibernation habitat to at least 168,000 Indiana bats, which is one-third of all the Indiana bats known to exist. Sources: KHMO ,  USFWS/Ann Froschauer

Nicole Davis was chosen to be featured in the  Extraordinary Women Cavers Guidebook and Magazine  for along side several other extraordinary women cavers in the 2017 August release of the annual publication. Nicole worked as a tour guide at Lewis and Clark Caverns during graduate school at Montana State University while earning her Master of Science in Earth Sciences when she fell into caving. While working on her fellowship in the Geology PhD program at the University of Cincinnati , she explored caves with the Greater Cincinnati Grotto and even took two one-month-long expeditions to study glaciers on Mt. Everest and Mt. Kailash in Tibet. Nicole became a cave mapper with the Dusty Cavers and Western Mappers and has participated cave maps, geology studies, and dozens of survey trips in Crystal, Buckelew and Scroll caves. She is also on the 2017 board of Southern Arizona Grotto (SAG). Welcome Nicole and congratulations on becoming an EWC! Photo by Jessica Pruitt ...

Cinthia Campos was chosen to be featured in the Extraordinary Women Cavers Guidebook and Magazine for along side several other extraordinary women cavers in the 2017 August release of the annual publication. Cinthia became interested in caving while attending an archaeology class in college. She is a certified HeartSaver and cave mapper/cartographer. Cinthia participates in the Quintana Roo Cave Mapping Project and has discovered 26 subterranean sites. She launched the Tarascan Cave Reconnaissance to survey sites in Michoacán, a region of Mexico that is largely unexplored and even did work to preserve bats in Mexican caves that were threatened by guano poachers. Welcome Cinthia and congratulations on becoming an EWC!

A new program at Wind Cave National Park teaches kids how to explore the natural world. The park will host "Adventures in Nature" every other Tuesday until April 5. Source: rapidcityjournal.com

Natalie Erlenbaugh, Indiana State University's Environmental Science Club president and past winners of the 2014 Sustainability Championship lead a trip to the Cave-in Rock State Park and its large limestone cave that was carved out by high-tide by the Ohio. Bandits used to stow away their treasure along there, so she planned the excursion to benefit the numerous geologists in the club. The club is made up of majors in geology, environmental science and related majors, and includes students who enjoy the environment through hiking or other activities. "We're a fun group, with lots of fun people," said Erlenbaugh. She plans to do more cave trips in the future too. #ScienceWomen #WomenCavers #EWLS #Speleology Source: www2.indstate.edu

"I love to survey and help with restoration. I try to participate on as many projects as I can ... Caving has definitely changed my life." Karla Zajac Clinical Chemist and 2015 EWC #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls www.ewls.org

“New microbes are as exciting to me as virgin passages – for me there’s a similar thrill of discovery. You know it’s a great day when you get treated to both!” Jennifer Macalady Associate Professor, Geomicrobiologist, and 2015 EWC #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls www.ewls.org

“You need to treat your team how you would like to be treated and give the young, new divers a taste of the action ... you have to give something back." Christine Grosart Founder of WetWellies Caving, Cave Photographer, Paramedic, and 2015 EWC #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls www.ewls.org

“Young women are so often discouraged from pursuing ‘hard science’ fields” but that they “are just as capable, if not more so, as boys and men of doing the dirty work of science and doing it well.” Elen Feuerriegel Rising Star Expedition, PhD candidate, and 2015 EWC #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls www.ewls.org

"If there is any caving skill I possess, it must certainly be a dogged will to just keep putting one foot in front of the other ... The majority of my accomplishments have happened ... all because I jumped out of my comfort zone" Laura Demarest (Young) Watershed Coordinator and 2014 EWC #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls www.ewls.org

My small size "was like something that had been a disadvantage [but when I became a caver] it suddenly made me a super hero.” Stacy Gantt-Blackwood Environmental Scientist and  2014 EWC #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls www.ewls.org

“I enjoy taking people underground for the first time, and seeing that look of wonder on their faces.” Mary Sue Socky NSS Fellow, Retired Biology Teacher, and  2014 EWC #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls www.ewls.org

"Saving habitats, extending known species records, and rescuing and promoting conservation is my calling.” Kirsten Alvey-Mudd Chef with a Masters in Biological Sciences, Executive Director of Missouri Bat Census, and 2014 EWC #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls www.ewls.org

"All my caving is geared towards education, conservation, exploration, and especially fun.” Gayle Chaney Audiologist, caver for 24 years, and 2014 EWC #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls www.ewls.org

Cristina was born in Mexico in 1966. She is a photographer as well as a Marine Biologist. For the past 20 years she has been working as a writer and photographer. In 2005 she funded the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP). Cristina has elevated conservation photography to a whole new level. Back then when she started out with Nature and conservation photography it was considered taboo to talk about the environment. In 2010 she was awarded the Mission Award from North American Nature Photography Association; an organization that experiments with ideas to show how photographers can have an impact on conservation. The organization is now launching a non-profit called Sea Legacy whose mission is to share the power of photography and story-telling to raise awareness of biodiversity and marine conservation. Cristina uses her photography to show the importance of cave conservation. The destruction of species and landscapes ignited by her passion for conservation. S...

“I love exploration. There is something about being the first person in a passage ... it becomes yours.” Chrissy Richards Cave Diver with a Masters of Fisheries and Aquatic Science and 2014 EWC #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls www.ewls.org

Over the years EWLS has found a many women leaders who have worked to contribute in cave archaeology. Read our top 10 below! Anges Milowka (23 December 1981 – 27 February 2011) was an Australian technical diver, underwater photographer, author, and cave explorer. She gained international recognition for penetrating deeper than previous explorers into cave systems across Australia and Florida, and as a public speaker and author on the subjects of diving and maritime archaeology. Read more here . Elen Feuerriegel was featured in our annual 2015 publication this April as an Extraordinary Woman Caver (EWC) and was one of the 6 women scientists who recovered and cataloged than 1200 hominid fossil elements in the South African Rising Star Cave. Congrats Elen. Read more here . Florence Guillot, speleologist for the past thirty years, is co-responsible for the speleological expedition IOWA 2014 in Papua-New Guinea. Guillot has a PhD in History and is an archaeologist and...

“Caves provide a place that is separate from all other places . . .  the darkness, the silence, and the formations that are only found underground, it is really difficult to describe the wonderful experience that each cave offers.” Errin Walker Environmental Planner and 2013 EWC #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls www.ewls.org