| Jamaican Caves Organisation | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | JCO |
| Formation | January 1, 2002 |
| Type | NGO |
| Region served | Jamaica |
| Website | http://www.jamaicancaves.org/ |
The Jamaican Caves Organisation (JCO) is an all-volunteer caving organisation devoted to the preservation, exploration and documentation of caves in Jamaica. It is currently the only non-profit group in Jamaica dedicated to education, research and advocacy about caves.
Contents |
The Jamaican Caves Organisation (JCO) was established in 2002 by Stefan Stewart, Ivor Conolley, and Martel Taylor, with partial funding and technical assistance from The Nature Conservancy, and the Windsor Research Centre.
From 2002 onwards, projects have been carried out in St James, the Cockpit Country, and St Ann under a National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) wildlife research permit. Sites in other parishes, outside of the project areas, have also been visited and assessed in collaboration with NEPA, the Water Resources Authority (WRA), the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), the Archaeological Society of Jamaica (ASJ), the University of the West Indies (UWI), and various external research groups.
The JCO maintains the current version of the Jamaican Cave Register, now at about 1200 sites. Reports and data are welcome.
The current membership includes most of the principal cavers active in Jamaica during the last four decades, including Dr Alan G Fincham, Dr David Lee, Dr Donald McFarlane, David Eastwood, Guy Van Rentergem, Jan Pauel, Andreas Haiduk, Elizabeth Slack, and Adam Hyde.
Notable events in the history of the group include the first descent of Smokey Hole Cave, Manchester in March 2006, which established a new depth record for Jamaica of 194 metres, and the removal of the remains of Carlton Rose from the notorious Hutchinson's Hole, St Ann, in February 2004.[1]
Non-caving underground activities have included the exploration and mapping of Stamford Hill Mine, Clarendon, abandoned in 1863, under contract to PanCaribbean Minerals.
The JCO continues to explore known caves and expand its knowledge base as well as search out and begin exploration of new caves, with expeditions held three to four times per year. Expeditions focus on updating the Jamaican Cave Register by ascertaining GPS locations and by conducting a rapid biological, geological and archaeological inventory of each cave visited. The current cave register is contained in Jamaica Underground with online supplements on the JCO website.
Collaboration has included the National Environment and Planning Agency of Jamaica (NEPA), and The Nature Conservancy (TNC).[2]
Media coverage has included the Travel Channel and the Jamaica Observer, which has written several articles about the JCO, its activities and its members.
|
||||||||