Contents

 

Foreword

v

 

 

Introduction

 

Project summary

1.1

Project requirements

1.2

Excluded sites

1.3

Project deliverables

1.4

Personnel

1.5

 

 

Methods

 

Indicators

2.1

Georeferencing

2.2

Datum transformations

2.3

Species identification

2.4

Determination of hydrological activity

2.5

Field techniques

2.6

 

 

Results - Caves by District

 

Windsor

3.1

Bad Hole

 

Contra Sheep Pen Hole

 

Devil's Staircase

 

Flood Exit Cave

 

Flood Rising

 

Fontabelle Rising

 

Hessie's Hole**

 

Home Away From Home Cave**

 

Long Mile Cave

 

Pantrepant Cave

 

Peru Mountain Holes

 

Quaw's Pond Sink

 

Ruined Ground Cave

 

Sheep Pen Cave

 

Spring Cave

 

Windsor Great Cave

 

The Northeast

3.2

Agony Hole

 

Barbecue Bottom Hole-1

 

Barbecue Bottom Hole-2

 

Campbells Cave

 

East Hole

 

Kinloss Shelter

 

Mirk Pit

 

Montieth Cave

 

Ramgoat Cave

 

South Hole

 

Rock Spring

3.3

Burnt Hill Caves

 

Cane Patch Sink

 

Carambie Cave

 

Comb Cave

 

Crayfish Cave

 

Far Enough Cave

 

Farmyard Cave

 

Good Hope Cave

 

Good Hope One Cave

 

Good Hope Two Cave

 

Greater Swanga Shelter**

 

Harties Cave-1

 

Harties Cave-2

 

Iron Maiden Cave

 

Mouth Maze

 

Mouth River Sink

 

Pool Cave

 

Printed Circuit Cave

 

Swanga Cave, [aka Banga Cave]

 

Too Far Stream Cave

 

Troy

3.4

Anancy Hole**

 

Booth Camp Spring

 

Dalby's Stream Cave

 

Kolan Bush Sinkhole

 

Tyre Stream Cave**

 

Tyre Sump Cave

 

White Cave

 

Wilson's Run Cave

 

Balaclava

3.5

Black River Head

 

Bluefields Sink

 

Coffee River Cave

 

Golding River Cave

 

Hector's River Sink-3

 

Mexico Cave

 

Raheen Sink-1

 

Wallingford Collapse Cave

 

Wallingford Main Cave

 

Wallingford River Cave

 

Wallingford Roadside Cave

 

Wallingford Sinkhole-1

 

Wallingford Sinkhole-2

 

Wallingford Tunnel Cave

 

Thornton

3.6

Appleton Tower Maze

 

Falling Cave

 

Nanny Cave

 

Pennhouse Shelter-1**

 

Pennhouse Shelter-2**

 

Pennhouse Shelter-3**

 

Penthouse Cave

 

River Maiden Cave

 

Welsch Ratbat Cave

 

Quick Step

3.7

Adam's Third Pit

 

August 23 Pit

 

Back-of-Hut Pit-1

 

Back-of-Hut Pit-2

 

Belmore Castle Pit-1

 

Belmore Castle Pit-2

 

Bonafide Cave

 

Canaan Spring

 

Cowtrap Pit

 

Crescent Pit

 

Ed's Lost Rack Pit

 

Ellen's Mourning Pit

 

Glade Fissure Cave

 

Gremlin Cave

 

Hole-in-the-wall Pit

 

Innerwell Fissure Cave

 

Jabbering Crow Pit

 

Killer Corkscrew Pit

 

Linda's Minipit

 

Marta Tick Cave

 

Minocal's Glory Hole

 

Olive Piece Property Caves

 

Red Top Pit

 

Road-side Pit

 

Robert Ming's Pit

 

Rolling Rock Pit

 

Sawmill Cave

 

Sawmill Collapse

 

Stephenson Cave

 

Tamarind Pond Hole

 

The Tomhole

 

Undernose Cave

 

Wandering Well

 

Wayne's Pit

 

The Southwest

3.8

Armstrong Pit

 

Adam's Cave

 

Behind the Wall Cave

 

Big Well Cave

 

Cawley Well

 

Cedar Spring Cave

 

Cook's Bottom Sink

 

Dunco Spring Cave

 

Johnny Tavern Spring

 

Martel Spring

 

Martel Spring Cave

 

Retirement Cave

 

Robber Cave

 

Saucy River Cave

 

Shell Cave

 

Sherlock's Pit

 

Still Waters Cave

 

Vauxhall Cave

 

Warmy Tom Hole

 

Wondrous Cave

 

The Northwest

3.9

Barracks Cave

 

Clear River Cave**

 

Dead Baby Sinkhole**

 

Duppy Cave

 

Fitzie's Fissures 1-3**

 

Gun Hill

 

Hope River Glade Caves

 

Liefs Sink

 

Prosper Rock

 

Salmon Cave

 

Springvale South Cave

 

Vaughansfield Cave

 

Young Gully Cave

 

Young's Cave

 

 

 

Conclusions

 

Current conditions

4.1

Degradation

4.2

Conservation priorities

4.3

Recommendations

4.4

Monitoring

4.5

 

 

Appendix A - Database of PiP Project sites

 

Column by column explanation of use

5.1

 

 

Appendix B - Arcview project files

6.1

 

 

Appendix C - Archaeology of the Cockpit Country

7.1

 

 


Foreword

 

The participation of the Jamaican Caves Organisation in the Parks in Peril Project began in late 2001. Dr. S. Koenig, of the Windsor Research Centre, invited R. S. Stewart to assist in preparatory work on the caves component of the PiP Project, then in its nascent stages. Although there was not yet any actual funding for the caves component, a team that was made up of Susan Koenig, Stefan Stewart, and Martel Taylor carried out fieldwork in February of 2002 that would begin the process of establishing a methodology for the systematic assessment of Jamaican caves.

In June 2002, funding supplied by the sponsor of the project, The Nature Conservancy, enabled further fieldwork, this time under the guidance of G. O. Graening of The Nature Conservancy - USA. With the assistance of Koenig, Stewart, and Taylor, a number of caves were visited, and good progress was made.

In August of 2002, with the intention of assembling a group of volunteers who could carry out speleological research in Jamaica, with or without funding, the Jamaican Caves Organisation was founded by Stewart. The initial membership of the JCO consisted of a small group of people who had been exploring the caves of the island with Stewart since the early 1990's, but new members were soon added. One of the more important of the early additions to the team was Ivor Conolley.

In the autumn of 2002, using methods established earlier in the year, the JCO began a systematic