Chuck Sutherland

A landowner with a cave on their property recently reached out to me and asked the following, "I have been wanting to get in touch with someone knowledgeable regarding caves and discuss one I have on our property... Just wondering if it would be beneficial for the cave to be assessed by a professional and any advice to preserve it." This is an excellent question, and I probably should have been better prepared to answer it. As someone who frequently explores caves, and who frequently meets landowners with caves, I think the more precise question to ask is "What benefit is it to me that my cave be described?" I'll throw some potential benefits out, which may or may not entirely match the uniqueness of a particular cave. Preservation through Awareness We cannot protect something which we don't know about or understand. Understanding and documenting what lies within caves allows us to craft effective conservation efforts. By knowing the value and

Dynamic Maps These maps are ones that I have produced either professionally or as a hobbyist using ESRI's ArcGIS Online platform with Dashbaords or the Experience Builder tools. The Tennessee Comb Grave Tradition I put this Experience together for Ric Finch, who researches comb graves. A "comb grave" is a burial that features a grave cover made, normally, of two rectangular slabs of stone leaned together to form a gable roof over the grave. The term "comb" signifies "the crest or ridge of a roof". It includes my photographs, a Survey123 form for submitting new comb graves, as well as an interactive map. Tennessee Cave Survey 2023 This is my attempt to create an interesting dashboard for the Tennessee Cave Survey that provides detailed statistical information about described caves in the state without sharing location information. Stat