2023 Illinois Compiled Statutes › Chapter 525 - CONSERVATION › 525 ILCS 5/ - Cave Protection Act.

(525 ILCS 5/1) (from Ch. 96 1/2, par. 9501)
Sec. 1. 
		This Act shall be known and may be cited as the Cave Protection Act.
(Source: P.A. 84-140.)
(525 ILCS 5/2) (from Ch. 96 1/2, par. 9502)
Sec. 2. 
		
		As used in this Act, the following terms have the following
meanings, unless the context otherwise requires:
"Cave" means any naturally occurring void, cavity, recess, sinkhole or system
of interconnecting passages beneath the surface of the earth or within a cliff
or ledge which is large enough to permit a person to enter, including
natural subsurface water and drainage systems, but not including any mine,
tunnel or other manmade excavation.
"Cave resource" means any cave and its contents, together with associated
topographic and hydrological features.
"Commercial cave" means any cave utilized by the owner for the purpose of
exhibition to the general public as a profit or nonprofit enterprise,
wherein a fee is collected for entry.
"Cultural resource" means any historic or prehistoric human remains,
artifacts, constructions or evidence thereof.
"Department" means the Department of Natural Resources.
"Director" means the Director of the Department.
"Gate" means any structure or device located to limit or prohibit access
or entry into any cave.
"Natural resource" means any material occurring naturally in caves
including, but not limited to, animal life, whether vertebrate or
invertebrate, plant life, paleontological deposits, sediments, minerals,
speleogens, speleothems, water and other natural resources.
"Owner" means a person who owns title to land where a cave is located.
"Person" means any individual, partnership, firm, association, trust,
corporation or other legal entity.
"Sinkhole" means a closed topographic depression or basin, generally
draining underground, including, but not restricted to, a doline, uvala,
blind valley, or sink.
"Speleogen" means the surrounding natural material or bedrock in which a
cave is formed, including walls, floors and ceiling and similar related
structural and geological components.
"Speleothem" means a natural mineral formation or deposit occurring
in a cave.
(Source: P.A. 89-445, eff. 2-7-96.)
(525 ILCS 5/3) (from Ch. 96 1/2, par. 9503)
Sec. 3. 
		
		The Department may take special actions as necessary,
consistent with the purposes of this Act, including but not limited to:
(1) employment of cave resources management personnel;
(2) appointment of volunteer cave management and administrative personnel;
(3) providing cave owners with technical assistance and management advice;
(4) entering into volunteer management agreements with individual
persons, members and associations of the caving community;
(5) initiating a comprehensive inventory of cave resources;
(6) adopt rules in accordance with the Illinois Administrative Procedure
Act to further the purposes of this Act;
(7) issuance of grants from appropriated funds.
(Source: P.A. 84-140.)
(525 ILCS 5/4) (from Ch. 96 1/2, par. 9504)
Sec. 4. 
		
		The Director may also appoint an advisory council composed of
individuals, members of organized caving groups or the scientific
community for the purpose of developing regulations pursuant to this Act,
reviewing management plans for cave resources on public land, or to
otherwise provide advice and assistance as deemed necessary by the
Department in furthering
the purposes of this Act.
(Source: P.A. 84-140.)
(525 ILCS 5/5) (from Ch. 96 1/2, par. 9505)
Sec. 5. 
		
		Owners of land shall not be liable for injuries, mental harm or
death sustained by persons using their land, including but not limited to
cave resources, for recreational, educational or scientific purposes.  By
granting permission for entry or use, the owner does not thereby:
(a) extend any assurance that the premises are safe for such purposes, or
(b) constitute to the permittee the legal status of an invitee or
licensee to whom a duty of care is owed, or
(c) assume responsibility for or incur liability for any injury to
person or property caused by an act or omission of a permittee except as
provided in this Section.
This Act shall not limit the liability which otherwise exists for (1)
willful or malicious failure to guard or warn against a dangerous
condition, use or natural structure; or (2) failure to guard or warn
against a dangerous manmade structure, fixture or activity; or (3)
for injury suffered in any case where permission to enter for the above purpose
was granted for a consideration.
Nothing in this Section creates a duty of care or ground of liability for
injury to person or property.
(Source: P.A. 84-140.)
(525 ILCS 5/6) (from Ch. 96 1/2, par. 9506)
Sec. 6. 
		It shall be unlawful for any person, without the express written permission of the land owner, to:
(a) Willfully or knowingly break, break off, crack, carve upon, write, burn,
mark upon, remove, or in any manner destroy, disturb, deface, mar, or harm
the surfaces of any cave or any natural material which may be found therein,
whether attached or broken, including speleothems, speleogens and sedimentary
deposits.
(b) Break, force, tamper with, or otherwise disturb a lock, gate, door
or other obstruction designed to control or prevent access to any cave,
even though entrance thereto may not be gained.
(c) Remove, deface or tamper with a sign stating that a cave is posted
or citing provisions of this Act.
(d) Store, dump, litter, dispose of or otherwise place any refuse,
garbage, dead animal, sewage, or toxic substance harmful to cave life or
humans in any cave or sinkhole.
(e) Burn within any cave or sinkhole any material which produces any
smoke or gas which is harmful to any organism in any cave.
This Section shall specifically exempt acetylene gas emissions created by
carbide lamps used as a source of light by persons using the cave.
(f) Kill, injure, disturb or otherwise interfere with any cave life,
including any cave roosting bat, or interfere with or obstruct the free
movement of any cave resource into or out of any cave, or enter any cave
with the intention of killing, injuring, disturbing or interfering with
life forms therein.
(g) Remove any natural or cultural resources found within any
cave.
(Source: P.A. 91-357, eff. 7-29-99.)
(525 ILCS 5/7) (from Ch. 96 1/2, par. 9507)
Sec. 7. 
		
		Any person who violates any provision of this Act shall be
guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.
(Source: P.A. 84-140.)