Basements, Attics and Crawl Spaces - Crawl Space and Access (with pics)

Have a crawl space, accessed through a cold room in the basement. Go down a couple of stairs and the access hatch is to the right, back under the door (if that makes sense). The floor of the cold room is wooden slats over sand.
http://www.diychatroom.com/attachments/f19/14581d1257213055t-crawl-space-questions-pics-dsc03255.jpg

In the second pic, the drywall was cut because of small patch of mold (might still be able to see a bit on the plastic there). The bottom of the drywall was buried in about 2" of sand and there are a couple of other spots where the drywall or wood directly contacts the sand. Behind that cut portion is more crawlspace.
http://www.diychatroom.com/attachments/f19/14582d1257213099t-crawl-space-questions-pics-dsc03256.jpg

Third pic shows a heat register off of the main ducting that was covered over and the general condition of the crawl space. Does the presence of the heat register sort of indicate that the space should be heated/cooled (the vents outside are covered up).
http://www.diychatroom.com/attachments/f19/14583d1257213119t-crawl-space-questions-pics-dsc03257.jpg

So, now to the questions!

1) Any suggestions on what I can do with the cold room to be able to sort of seal it from the crawlspace and still use it as a storage room? From what I understand, wood contacting directly with soil is a bad thing and invites pests/rot/etc

2) Should I be uncovering that heat register in the crawl space?


Thanks in advance!!

Someone must have thought that the heating system needed a boost & covered the vents & registers. It's anyone's guess if it helped or not. I don't think it's worth it to do any work down there. I would seal that entry door in the winter & leave it.