In addition to research, the projects included an important segment: education about the subterranean values, particularly pertaining to Ogulin, organised primarily for local inhabitants, but also for the public at large. The education was supported by printed materials: flyers, a poster, brochures and a film making. On several occasions the members of the Society participated in the radio shows of Ogulin Radio Station and Pisele piše show of Radio 101; in the local TV shows of TV 4 Rijeka, but also national TV shows: Trenutak spoznaje and Dobro jutro, Hrvatska.
The research findings have been presented to the public at large in 5 public forums in the city of Ogulin since 2004. The public forums were organised in cooperation with the Croatian Catholic Association “MI” from Ogulin, Public Open University and Craftsmen’s Centre Ogulin. The forums showed the latest findings of speleodiving research, endemic cave fauna, paleontological findings, but also the EU Natura 2000 Ecological Network, which might integrate the Ogulin region into its protected areas.
The most important part of education was the education of young people, which consisted of workshops organised at schools. The children had lectures about the caves in their region and the endemic cave fauna, but were also able to see films and the equipment used in research. The lectures were organised in the following schools: Regional School Zagorje of the First Primary School Ogulin, Primary School Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić, the First Primary School Ogulin, Primary School Josipdol, Regional School Tounj of Primary School Josipdol, Crafts and Technical School Ogulin and Grammar School Bernard Frankopan. The children from the Regional School Zagorje of the First Primary School Ogulin took part in the Cleaning Action for the Rupečica (River) and the Zeleno jezero (Lake) in 2007. The results of this action were presented in the Ecological Quiz of the Karlovac County “Lijepa naša” in 2008 and the children won the third place.
Long term involvement of members of the Society in popularisation and education of local inhabitants and the public at large resulted in the Ogulin cave sponge recognition in Ogulin, by speleologists, but also by state institutions including the State Institute for Nature Protection and the Ministry of Culture. The sponge has become an “umbrella species” in the proper sense of the word.
