DAVIS, Okla. (KTEN) — A group of university students from Ada and other conservationists volunteered at Turner Falls Park over spring break to help restore some of the park's caves and rocks that had been vandalized.

“People have been going into the caves and defacing them, so we are trying to clean them up and make them look better and make it a better habitat for some of the organisms that live in the caves and call it home,” said research scientist Kevin Blackwood.

Blackwood organized the restoration project after hearing about recent graffiti issues at the popular tourist attraction.

The volunteers worked to remove graffiti from the rocks and return them to their original color.

“If the rocks were nice and smooth, it would've been really easy to scrub that off, but they had a lot of dimples, and the surface is rough, so we masked it the best we could to blend it back in with the natural color of the rocks,” Blackwood explained. 

Park staffers were excited to partner on the restoration project. 

"We were more than happy that they wanted to come do it," said interim park manager Cathi Neal. "We always tell people two things: Leave the park as you found it, and pick up your trash as you go... but especially not putting graffiti on rocks that people come out here to see... not graffiti."

Turner Falls will increase patrols around the park to avoid vandalism issues in the future. 

“It's very hard to catch people because of where the caves are located, so we are going to have more patrols this summer,” Neal said. “Especially since Kevin and his crew came out and are trying to get rid of all the graffiti; we don't want it to come back.”