Cave Conservancies - Society Naming Conventions

Society Naming Conventions

The first two conservancies were called societies, perhaps influenced by the name of the National Speleological Society. The second, PerCCAMS, and seventh, Texas Cave Management Association (TCMA), conservancies founded have the word "management" in their names. During that time, cave management was beginning to be recognized as a distinct activity and discipline. Even the NSS Conservation Section changed its name to include the word "management" in this era. Starting with the Northeastern Cave Conservancy, almost all cave conservancies have the word "conservancy" in their name, thus "cave conservancy" has been the standard name of the movement. Four conservancies, KCI, IKC, MKC, and MAKC have substituted the word "karst" for "cave", perhaps to emphasize their interest in protecting/preserving the broader landscape. One conservancy, MCKC uses both words apparently to make a point. One conservancy, PerCCAMS, has recently changed its name to ACC. Great Saltpeter Cave Preserve is the only NSS affiliated conservancy that has the type of name that is usually given to a property instead of an organization. Several other unaffiliated cave conservancies have a variety of names. Generally, cave and karst are interchangeable when naming organizations and not even the most dogmatic stickler for detail would maintain that a cave conservancy would be prevented from managing a karst feature because their name included the word "cave" and not "karst".