This agreement is entered into between the Indiana Cave Survey (ICS) and the Indiana Karst Conservancy (IKC) for the purpose of making cave locations, descriptions, and other relevant information available to the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, for its use in the Hoosier National Forest (HNF) pursuant to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the IKC and the Forest Service.

A. General:

1. The IKC shall enter into and maintain a Memorandum of Understanding with the Forest Service which shall establish procedures for handling information about caves in or near the HNF. The IKC is responsible for maintaining an MOU that ensures compliance of the Forest Service with all provisions of this agreement.
2. The IKC shall maintain a standing committee to be known as the Hoosier Forests Project Committee (HFPC) to be composed of representatives of interested Indiana caving groups, including the ICS.
3. The ICS representative on the HFPC shall always be designated as the secretary of the committee.

B. Ownership and scope of information:

1. All information which is supplied by the ICS to the IKC and/or, the Forest Service pursuant to this agreement remains the property of the ICS.
2. All information provided to the ICS by the IKC, the Forest Service, or any of their affiliates becomes the property of the ICS. The ICS shall have the right to use, disseminate, or refuse to disseminate all such information at its discretion, subject to the terms of this agreement, the MOU between tile IKC and the Forest service, and other agreements. The person or organization which originally created any particular information retains the right to use and disseminate that information, but this shall not restrict the rights of the ICS to use and disseminate the information.
3. Each document sheet provided to the Forest Service will be labeled "Property of the Indiana Cave Survey provided under agreement with HNF."
4. The ICS will provide all relevant information in its possession about caves located in the HNF Purchase Unit Boundaries.

C. Handling of information:

1. Information will normally be provided to the HNF by way of the secretary of the HFPC passing the information to the Forest Cave Resource Specialist. If information is urgently needed and the secretary of the HFPC is unavailable or unable to provide the information when needed, the president of the ICS may pass the information directly to the Forest Cave Resource Specialist or may direct other ICS personnel to do so, with a timely explanation of the circumstances given to the HFPC secretary.


This information shall be given to HFPC members for use during the inventory and management planning process. This information shall not be disseminated to anyone outside the HFPC without the specific written permission of the ICS.

2. All new information received by the ICS on caves located in the HNF Purchase Unit Boundaries will be passed along to the HNF on an ongoing and timely basis. The ICS representative to the HFPC and appropriate officers of the ICS will consult with the Forest Cave Resource Specialist as needed to ensure that delivery of information is handled in a timely manner.
3. Except as provided below, all information relating to Indiana caves developed by the HFPC, the Forest Service, or their affiliates will be given to the ICS on an ongoing and timely basis. This will normally be accomplished by providing the original or a copy of all information to the ICS representative on the HFPC.
4. The Forest Service may withhold information on the existence of archaeological, paleontological, or historical sites in caves if the Forest Service believes that withholding this information will provide greater protection for those sites.
5. All information developed by the HNF and provided to the ICS will be treated as confidential and will not be disclosed in such a way as to create a substantial risk of destruction or harm to any cave.
6. The Forest Service will assign one individual as Cave Resource Specialist. This individual will be accountable to the Forest Supervisor for cave file maintenance and security. The files will be maintained under lock and key with access controlled by this individual.


This responsibility is handed over to the District Cave Resource Coordinator for the period of time file information is available for use in planning and administration in the district.

Cave location information is made available to individuals, caver volunteers, and teams in the Forest on a need-to-know basis. Files must be returned to the Cave Resource Specialist on a timely basis. Cave files will not be maintained in the district or outside the protested cave file system.

On rare occasions cave locations may need to be revealed when a cave is endangered by a proposed project and public input is required. In these instances the HFPC Chairman will be consulted prior to any such action.

This agreement may be terminated 60 days after written notice by either party. In case of termination, all information subject to this agreement which is the property of the ICS shall be returned to the ICS.

J. William Baus, President, ICS - 27 Aug 1990
R. Keith Dunlap, President, IKC - 30 Aug 90