JD,
I would like to comment because I was involved with Bonny's project. We were asked by NPS cave management to look at the graffiti and recommend ways to remove it. We were asked this because we have experience with cave restoration and work as cave managers ourselves. It was not "cavers deciding what life forms to remain" or any such nonsense. We were asked to do a job, and we did it. The managers of this cave work closely with archaeologists and biologists. I know they took all of their resources into account. If the graffiti removal project goes ahead, you can be sure all resources will be looked at in even more detail before work begins.
You reference an NSS News article but you really don't properly reference it at all. If you would like us to read it, you should tell us the month and year so we can look it up. However, just because someone writes an NSS article does not turn their viewpoint into gospel. What applies for them, wherever they did it, might not apply in a different situation. So you really shouldn't be surprised that NSS members still want to remove graffiti from caves.
Thank you for stating your opinion but seriously, you should try not to have such a narrow view on the subject. Your post comes across as very authoritative and arrogant. Have you been to Arco Tunnel, Idaho, lately and seen the orange spraypaint? Are you familiar with the local cultural history and how it applies to local historical cave use? If not, you might want to give us the benefit of the doubt and assume that we know something about what we are doing. As you become more involved with cave restoration, you will see that there are usually no easy answers and many judgement calls that have to be made along the way. Cave restoration very rarely actually "restores" a cave to its natural state. But it is still worth doing, even with the compromises that have to be made along the way.
So far, none of the graffiti has been removed besides the few tests we did during the initial trip. I have heard of some tests in California that used a blowtorch to burn spraypaint off of lava cave walls. I'd like to see the results from that!