Vancouver Island caver Phil Whitfield became involved with an American cave/karst management training team involving such luminaries as the late Dr. George Huppert, Ron Kerbo of the National Park Service, Tom Aley of the Ozark Underground Laboratory, Jim Nieland of the US Forest Service and Jer Thornton of Idaho, then NSS Conservation Chair. travelled to various locations around the States, spreading the conservation gospel to audiences of cavers, government agency staff and commercial cave operators.

Through these activities, Phil became aware of the American Cave Conservation Association, a national non-profit organization formed in 1977 for the purpose of protecting and preserving caves, karstlands and groundwater. The ACCA operated in cooperation with the National Speleological Society, promoting the conservation education agenda. Phil joined the ACCA in 1985, served as a director for two years, and in 1992 became a life member, from which position he was able to observe the maturing of the society into a major force in American cave/karst conservation.

Meanwhile, on Vancouver Island in 1985, BC Parks was preparing a management plan for the Horne Lake Caves Park. The park had been established in 1971 but had seen little development, other than subsidized public guiding on a volunteer basis by the Vancouver Island Cave Exploration Group (VICEG). With input from Tom Aley and Stephen Fairchild, a California commercial cave operator, the Horne Lake Caves Park Master Plan proposed facility and interpretive improvements, building into ultimate development of the beautiful Euclataws Cave as a "show cave". The Vancouver Island caving community was keen to remain involved with the park, recognizing that its features and its location close to provincial population centres and a main highway made it the best place in the Province to educate the general public about caves and karst. However, operation and development of the park was clearly beyond the purpose and resources of VICEG.

Inspired by the example of the ACCA, Island cavers decided to form and register a non-profit society which would operate and support development of Horne Lake Caves Park. The concept was that the Park would serve as an education centre and tourist attraction, which would eventually generate revenue to support cave conservation activities elsewhere in British Columbia and across Canada. With no one else in this field across the country at the time, and a national agenda in mind for the longer term, the name "Canadian Cave Conservancy" was selected and the Constitution defined society purposes as:

• To further the conservation of cave and karst resouces in Canada by:
  • i) supporting and undertaking cave and karst inventory, exploration and studies in Canada;
  • ii) providing a body of expertise on cave and karst conservation and management;
  • iii) directly or indirectly managing cave and karst resources through acquisition, contractual agreement or permit, for their intrinsic value and for the benefit and appreciation of the community and future generations.
  • iv) educating the public about cave and karst resource values, cave conservation and caving safety; and:
  
  
• To receive invest and administer bequests, endowments, trusts and other financial programs and investments, the purpose of which are to fund the activities of the Society; and:
  
  
• To receive bequests, trusts, funds and property, and to hold, invest, administer and distribute funds and property for the purposes of the Society to finance the programs and further the purposes of the Society as presently set out and for such other purposes as are exclusively charitable and for such other organizations as are "qualified donees" under the provisions of the Income Tax Act and for such other purposes and activities which are authorized for registered charities under the provisions of the Income Tax Act. The directors on their sole and absolute discretion may refuse to accept any bequests, trusts, funds or property; and:
  
  
• To do all such other things as are incidental, or conducive to the attainment of the ancillary purposes and the exercise of the powers of the Society.

The society was formally registered in April 1986 and obtained federal non-profit status, making it eligible to receive tax-deductible donations. Two caver employees of the CCC developed and ran a guiding program in the Park for four-month seasons in the summers of 1987 and 1988, and offered interpretive slide shows off-site. Several students were employed as guides and assistants, with varying success. However, with virtually no improvements to Park infrastructure and a low public profile, the operation served only about 2,000 visitors per season and operated at a loss, in spite of considerable volunteer support and government grants and subsidies.

Faced with burnout and uncertainties around support for a third season, the CCC withdrew from the operation in 1989. The following year, a commercial tour operator took on the park operation, but emphasized the need for firm Parks commitment to development and subsidies to ensure commercial viability. Ironically, this private sector reality check spurred some of the necessary capital investment, and in 1993 major surface improvements were formally opened. Combining excellent business sense with a well-designed and delivered guiding program, the private operation has become firmly established and achieves much of the general public education objective for the Park originally envisaged by the CCC founders.

Disassociated from the project for which it was originally created, and with its original organizers worn down and distracted by other commitments, the CCC ceased to function actively for over a decade. The society was maintained by its original Treasurer, Gerry Fowler, in a state of suspended animation by linking its membership with that of VICEG and continuing to file the necessary annual reports.

At the BC Speleological Federation Annual General Meeting in April 2002, participants heard details of the impacts of the new provincial government elimination of the Ministry of Forests Recreation Program, which had been responsible for the development of cave/karst management policy and the management of a number of significant BC caves. They also discovered of BC Parks plans to privatize management of road-accessible recreation facilities. We also learned that government agency interest in cave/karst issues has recently increased in Alberta with the inclusion of the popular Cadomin Caves in Whitehorse Provincial Park and the development of a formal cave rescue organization within the provincial SAR structure. Parks Canada was also reviewing its cave management approaches in light of the pending public release of a guidebook to Rocky Mountain caves. As Gerry Fowler noted, these developments would call for more coordinated and effective cave management activity by the caving community, and it might well be time to revive the CCC to advance this agenda.

It seemed to us that, with relatively few cavers in the organized caving community across Canada, a national organization would provide for more efficient use of the energy needed to advance the cave/karst conservation agenda.

Not only would we be able to share information to avoid reinventing the wheel, but a "national" profile would probably have more influence in local situations than can presently be brought to bear. Whether or not we ever achieve the profile and success of the American Cave Conservation Association is problematic, but the model is not a bad one to emulate.

The initial Directors identified a number of longer term roles, recognizing that there may be other worthwhile short or long term roles or projects for the CCC -

• Build a national network of experts in cave/karst management to address the range of cave/karst conservation and management issues across the country;
• Provide advice (and lobbying, where necessary) to management agencies on topics such as cave/karst inventories, research, management and development;
• Develop "best practices" cave/karst information, management and educational material aimed at specific "client groups" -
  • The general public
  • The caving community
  • Industry (forest and mining companies, as well as commercial cave/karst enterprises)
  • Governments and government agencies.
• Work towards establishing a standard inventory and classification systems, data management standards and agreements with other organizations and agencies.