Programs will educate about caves

By GINA KINSLOW
Glasgow Daily Times

MAMMOTH CAVE NATIONAL PARK June 25, 2009 12:14 pm

— Ever want to know more about caves across the world?
Then visit the campground at Mammoth Cave National Park any night this summer to hear programs on a wide variety of topics.
“We offer evening campfire programs every evening in the summer, and only on Friday and Saturday nights in the spring and fall,” said Joy Medley Lyons, chief of programs services at Mammoth Cave.
The programs have been offered by the national park for more than 30 years. The topics for the programs are chosen by the national park’s staff.
“Each of the permanently employed park rangers on the Interpretation Staff selects a topic, researches and develops one or more programs to present to the visiting public,” she said.
The newest programs offered this year are “Into the Hive” with Joel Gillespie and “Smoke and Ash” with Darlene Owens.
“Joel and his wife, Tiffany, are beekeepers, and this program deals primarily with the global situation of honey bees, although Joel discusses other types of bees, too,” Lyons said. “Darlene Owens is a certified firefighter, and her program enlightens visitors to the National Park Service fire program, prescribed burns and the benefits of controlled fire.”
The programs, which are free, begin at 8:15 p.m. each evening and are presented at the campground amphitheater. They are open to Mammoth Cave visitors as well as to those who live near the park.
“Each camp fire program has its own unique message,” she said. “Some deal with natural history while others focus on cultural history, and some enlighten us to both.”
Programs and the dates in which they will be presented through the Fourth of July weekend are: Thursday, “Floyd Collins: Entrapment, Death and Burial;” Friday, “Into the Hive;” Saturday, “Smoke and Ash;” Sunday, “The River Green;” June 29, “Myths and Mysteries of the Underworld;” Tuesday, “Into the Hive;” Wednesday, “The Big, The Small, and The Really Small;” July 2, “Floyd Collins: Entrapment, Death and Burial;” July 3, “Let’s Go Cavin’;” July 4, “Smoke and Ash;” and July 5, “The River Green.”