William Birdsall continues the legacy of outstanding cave stewardship by Florida cavers. For over 20 years, Bill has been working with landowners and public officials in Marion County to protect its significant caves and keep them open to cavers. There is little doubt that Briar, Hitchhiker and Honda Caves, and possibly also Whitecliff Cave, would have been destroyed were it not for his efforts.

At Briar Cave-one of central Florida's most heavily decorated and ecologically significant caves-Bill has shouldered the responsibility of acting as the liaison between several sets of property managers and the caving community. Each time the property's management changed, Bill made verbal and photographic presentations that convinced the new managers to keep the cave open to cavers. Most recently, Bill's long-term advocacy for the cave halted a developer's plans to grout the entrance shut, and resulted in a deal between city planners and the developer that resulted in a conservation easement over the defined cave area, thus protecting the cave in perpetuity.

Amazingly, throughout the entire period when Bill was publicly opposing the development of the property over Briar Cave, he was able to maintain good enough relations with the owners and property managers that cavers continued to have uninterrupted access!

At the popular and once heavily vandalized Whitecliff Cave, Bill orchestrated negotiations that resulted in the cave being donated to the city and gated. Bill is now the liaison between the Florida Speleological Society (FSS) and the city for the cave, and acts as manager of the cave for most purposes.

Bill recently convinced another Marion County developer to include the area encompassing Hitchhiker and Honda Caves as asset-aside green space. Hitchhiker Cave, also known as Waldo Cave, has a long history of use dating back to Native Americans; Honda Cave is a fissure crack in the middle of the property that has a lot of potential for big decorated cave.

Surprisingly, Bill Birdsall's successes have occurred in a county where the public officials previously had a long history of negative actions toward caves. Through Bill's tireless efforts with city and county officials, the trend of cave destruction and closure in Marion County has been reversed.