Multimedia Presentations

A park ranger prepares to be filmed in Lithograph Canyon for a video podcast.

NPS Photo

As visitors use online services in order to learn about parks, Jewel Cave National Monument offers an assortment of video podcasts for additional education and awareness. The topics within each production complement typical visitor questions and will hopefully provide meaningful online connections with the surface and subsurface resources.

Whether you are planning for a future visit or a student researching the National Park Service, we hope the productions will answer many of your questions ... and possibly provoke you into wanting to learn more.

 

Jewel Cave: Discovery in the Darkness

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Duration:

23 minutes, 43 seconds

As the official park film for Jewel Cave National Monument, this production showcases the beauty and mysteries of one of the longest caves in the world. Follow volunteer cave explorers into one of the last frontiers and witness some dramatic underground scenery. Learn about available tour options, recent bat research, and airflow studies; listen to the stories of past cavers. This movie shares the natural and cultural history of the "jewel" of the National Park Service.

 

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  Take a Ranger-Guided Cave Tour

  Jewel Cave National Monument offers four different cave experiences. Which ranger-guided activity is best for you? Which one is best for your family? This video podcast shares information about each experience and offers a scenic glimpse at some of the underground beauty that awaits visitors.

  Duration:

  5 minutes, 21 seconds

 

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  How Did the Cave Form?

  Many visitors wonder about the geology of Jewel Cave. How did the cave form? How old is the cave? How does the cave relate to the Black Hills. Experience the mystery and wonder of one of the longest caves in the world through an animated story of geologic history.

  Duration:

  2 minutes, 49 seconds

 

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  The Underground Beauty of Jewel Cave

  Jewel Cave National Monument offers amazing scenery in the Black Hills. Yet its most splendid views are found underground, consisting of brilliant colors, unique shapes, and a mysterious environment. For those who cannot tour Jewel Cave, this video podcast showcases the beautiful features within an underground world.

  Duration:

  5 minutes, 13 seconds

 

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  Exploring the Unknown

  Although Jewel Cave showcases over 200 miles of mapped and surveyed passages, we believe that this only represents about three percent of the cave's total volume. With assistance from volunteer cavers, this beautiful resource is explored, and more passages are added to the map. Follow along as a caving team heads into the unknown.

  Duration:

  4 minutes, 32 seconds

 

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  A Reservoir of Life

  Jewel Cave National Monument is located in the beautiful Black Hills of western South Dakota. Its surface features include a ponderosa pine forest, open meadows, and rocky outcroppings. This diversity of habitats harbors an assortment of life.

  Duration:

  4 minutes, 55 seconds

 

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  For the Love of Bats

  Nine species of bats live within and around Jewel Cave National Monument. Although most visitors never see any bats while exploring the area, during the off-season the historic entrance is home to one of the largest hibernating bat colonies in the Great Plains. These flying mammals are an important part of the Black Hills ecosystem.

  Duration:

  5 minutes, 5 seconds

 

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  Combating White Nose Syndrome

  White Nose Syndrome (WNS) is affecting bat populations across the country. This deadly disease is within the Black Hills and has been found at Jewel Cave. How are bats being protected? What can you do to help slow the spread of this disease? This video podcast shares the history of WNS and what is being done by the National Park Service to combat it at the park level.

  Duration:

  4 minutes, 17 seconds

 

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  Stepping Back in Time

  For over 100 years, Jewel Cave has lured explorers into its passages. Yet most visitors are only aware of the national monument and its ranger-guided cave tours. This video podcast shares the stories of the cave's early years and how this complex resource became what it is today.

  Duration:

  4 minutes, 57 seconds

 

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  Through the Generations

  What we thought was a small cave has evolved into one of the longest caves in the world, with a rich history of discovery. This video podcast shares the recent history of exploration at Jewel Cave and how this beautiful resource has become a jewel within the National Park Service.

  Duration:

  4 minutes, 40 seconds

 

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  Learning from Research and Science

  Jewel Cave National Monument is a living laboratory, offering a number of different research opportunities. Like many public lands, we learn from our surrounding resources through experiments and studies. The monument preserves this beautiful site and its stories of discovery and uses what we learn to manage our natural and cultural resources.

  Duration:

  4 minutes, 52 seconds

 

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  Fire: Friend or Foe?

  Wildland fire has great potential to change park landscapes. Yet in many ecosystems, such as the Black Hills, fire is also a critical natural process. In fire-dependent ecosystems, many plants and animals cannot survive without the cycles of fire to which they are adapted. This video podcast describes fire conditions at Jewel Cave and how fire is used as a management tool for the surface resources.

  Duration:

  4 minutes, 38 seconds

 

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  Remembering the Jasper Fire

  The Jasper Fire of August 2000 burned through over 83,000 acres of land in the western Black Hills. It burned through about 90 percent of Jewel Cave National Monument and consumed over half of the monument's forested acres. What was started by an arsonist became the largest wildfire in South Dakota recorded history.

  Duration:

  6 minutes, 10 seconds