Cave restoration

Cave Graffiti Removal

Spray paint takes seconds. Getting it off a lava tube wall takes days. Since 2011 our members have helped remove graffiti from Central Oregon’s caves, and most of it is now gone.

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Spray-painted graffiti on a lava tube wall, before the grotto removed it.

Photo: Brent McGregor

Why graffiti matters

Graffiti does more than look bad. Paint covers the original lava surfaces, formations and history that make each cave unique, and once a cave is tagged, more vandalism and trash usually follow. Cleaning a cave gives it back to the bats, the scientists and every visitor who comes after.

The volunteers who do this work have seen the difference. Caves that were once full of graffiti, broken bottles and road flares are clean again, and they stay cleaner when visitors find them that way.

How we do it

We work with the Western Cave Conservancy, which bought portable sandblasting equipment and developed its graffiti removal process together with the Oregon High Desert Grotto.

  • A large trailer carries air compressors and sandblasting units to the cave.
  • About a mile of air hose lets us reach graffiti deep inside the caves.
  • Crushed volcanic rock is the blasting media. It is nearly identical to the cave’s own soil.
  • Tarps catch the media so it can be gathered up and reused, leaving as little behind as possible.
  • A couple dozen volunteers haul gear, run the hoses, blast and clean up. A large cave can take three to five days.
Volunteers gathering trash at the Bessie Butte Pit cleanup in the high desert.

Photo credit: contact Jeff Taylor

Caves we have helped restore

With the Western Cave Conservancy and our partners, we have cleaned graffiti from caves across Central Oregon and beyond. Many caves now need only an occasional touch-up.

Central Oregon

  • Redmond Caves (BLM, Redmond): the first project, in 2011. The graffiti is gone and only maintenance remains.
  • Boyd Cave: a five-day cleanup, with touch-ups about every two years.
  • Skeleton Cave: five and a half days of work through branching passages and crawls.
  • Arnold Ice Cave: cleaned, with new graffiti removed again in 2026.
  • Hidden Forest Cave: cleaned every two to three years.
  • Wind Cave (near Newberry Volcano): a three-day cleanup in August 2026, the last of the area’s caves on the list. (Central Oregon Daily News)
  • Dillon Falls and East Lake: graffiti on rocks outside caves. The East Lake graffiti was reported by the Forest Service.

Beyond Central Oregon

  • Malheur Cave (eastern Oregon): closed in 2019 after vandalism, trash and graffiti (Burns Times-Herald). OHDG led a cleanup in November 2021, blasting the ceiling over the cave’s lake from a platform built on a raft (Karl Helser’s trip report). The cave is now graffiti-free for the first time in decades and open to cavers three weekends a year.
  • Spence Cave and Spirit Mountain Cave (Wyoming): with Bat Conservation International and the Bureau of Land Management. Gear reached Spence Cave by helicopter, and nearly all the graffiti was removed.

Partners

This work is only possible with a lot of help: the Western Cave Conservancy, the Deschutes National Forest, the Bureau of Land Management, the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, Wanderlust Tours, Metolius Climbing, Bat Conservation International, the Burns Masonic Lodge, the NSS Western Region, the Willamette Valley, Oregon and Mother Lode grottos, and the Mazamas.

Watch

Volunteers remove graffiti from Central Oregon caves. Central Oregon Daily News.

In the news

Help keep caves clean

  • Never mark a cave, even with chalk or a small arrow.
  • Pack out everything you bring in, and anything you find.
  • If you see new graffiti or vandalism, report it to the land manager (for most caves near Bend, the Deschutes National Forest).
  • Join the grotto to get invitations to cleanup trips.
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