Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources Features Nature Preserve Dedicated to Fr. Paul Wightman, OMI
Oblate Ecological Initiative
Thanks to Sr. Maxine Pohlman, SSND, Director of La Vista Ecological Learning Center and Fr. Séamus P. Finn, OMI, Director of USA JPIC and OIP for making us aware of this article.
While still a seminarian in 1949, Fr. Paul and fellow student, Cletus Meier visited a farm owned by Cletus’ uncle, Joe Fogelpole, to see a cave on the property in Monroe County in Southern Illinois. That inspired Fr. Wightman to spend the next 70 years (when not busy with his duties as a Catholic priest) as a spelunker, surveyor, and mapper of caves.
After his ordination in 1955, Fr. Paul, along with some of his students, returned to Fogelpole Cave and began the years-long process of mapping some 8 miles of passages in the system. The cave, the largest and most biologically diverse cave in Illinois is now part of a 27-acre nature preserve owned by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. That preserve upon which the Fogelpole Cave sits is now surrounded by a larger, more visitor-friendly nature preserve which has been named in honor of Fr. Paul’s legacy of exploration and preservation of the caves of Monroe County: The Paul Wightman Subterranean Nature Preserve.
In December, 2023, the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission celebrated its 60th anniversary with a publication featuring 6 notable protected sites throughout Illinois including the Fogelpole Cave Nature Preserve & Paul Wightman Subterranean Nature Preserve
The link below will take you to the website of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources where you may read the entire article. There is also a link to the story which ran on OMIUSA.ORG in 2019 documenting the dedication ceremony of the Paul Wightman Subterranean Nature Preserve.
Click here to see the entire article from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources