Monday, January 29, 2007

A Special Place - Sherfield Cave


This is a painting of the cave near TinyCabin. Since it is too cold to be doing anything useful, we offer this for your enjoyment. It was painted by William McNamara. http://www.mcnamarawatercolors.com/
From his website: Close inspection of his work reveals the abstract qualities of layers of color, the play of light and shadow, and the subtle and intricate patterns of nature, which combine in paintings often described as "magical realism".

Sherfield Cave has about 6.6 miles mapped in it so far. At present, it is serving as the largest hiberaculum in the state for the endangered Indiana Bat. There are 3 other known species of conservation concern living in there.

We are grateful to The Nature Conservancy for purchasing 1200 acres of its recharge area in 2005 to protect the cave. And we are grateful that the the National Park Service bought 96,000 acres on the downstream side to protect the Buffalo National River back in the 1970s. This was something Richard Nixon (?) had a hand in.

Doesn't leave much room for neighbors, but that's ok.

No comments: