-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [azregion] Background on SWR FOIA
Date: Fri, 23 May 2014 14:20:11 -0400
From: Ty Spatta axis...@bluemarble.net [azregion]
<azreg...@yahoogroups.com>
Reply-To: azreg...@yahoogroups.com
To: azreg...@yahoogroups.com <azreg...@yahoogroups.com>
Agreed. Great job! Let me know if I can be of any support.
Again, this subject has been something we have been working hard on at a
state level, and hopefully soon at a Federal level. Cavers across the
country need to band together and become a solid force for logical cave
management.
In Indiana I have been working on trying to get cavers to document their
past and present work and personal monies spent on public lands. As we
know, cavers are doing the bulk of the surveying, clean ups, biological
inventories, rescues, ect ect. In Indiana, cavers are the first ones
that the state and Feds turn to when they need a map or help on a cave
project. Unfortunately we are not even consulted before decisions like
the blanket cave closures. The cavers that I know truly care for the
best interest of the caves and their fauna, and do not put politics
above common sense in cave management issues. It is time that we are
shown the respect that we (and the caves) deserve.
I have done plenty of work with the Feds and state agencies out in the
AZ region. It is no different. There may be one or two of their
employees on a project, but the bulk of the work is done by caver
volunteers. Unfortunately the lack of respect for cavers and their huge
contributions is quite prevalent there, too.
Ty Spatta
Sent on my iCave
axis...@bluemarble.net <mailto:axis...@bluemarble.net>
On May 22, 2014, at 6:14 PM, "roberta serface ozro...@hotmail.com
<mailto:ozro...@hotmail.com> [azregion]" <azreg...@yahoogroups.com
<mailto:azreg...@yahoogroups.com>> wrote:
I applaud the SWR in requesting the FOIA and hope that they get some
answers that are deserved for the cavers who do a great job at
managing these non-renewable resources.
Roberta Serface
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To: azreg...@yahoogroups.com <mailto:azreg...@yahoogroups.com>
From: azreg...@yahoogroups.com <mailto:azreg...@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Thu, 22 May 2014 14:45:34 -0700
Subject: [azregion] Background on SWR FOIA
All,
On Tuesday, May 20, 2014, our SWR Vice-Chair, Jim Evatt notified the
membership in the SWR, through the SWR mailing list, that a Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) request had been filed by the SWR for
information related to the BLM's management of the threat of White
Nose Syndrome (WNS). This act, arguably the most significant act
taken by the SWR for a generation, is the result of a string of events
over the last several years. I want to give the membership some of
the background that led up to this request.
As most everyone knows, WNS is a debilitating condition that has
affected hibernating bats, primarily in the eastern United States and
Canada, causing very high mortality rates in the bat colonies from the
fungus that causes it. /(P. destructans)./ The first evidence of WNS
came from Howe Caverns, a commercial cave in New York, in 2007. An
initial thought was that perhaps a caver from Europe possibly brought
this fungus to the United States by visiting the cave with clothes
that were contaminated with the fungus. As more and more evidence
accumulated of the devastating effects of WNS to bats, the US Fish and
Wildlife Service developed guidelines for the various cave management
agencies to use regarding the potential spread of WNS. These
guidelines included recommendations to close caves and abandoned mines
to human entry because of the possibility that humans may be a
significant vector to the transmission of the condition.
In January of 2011, the NM BLM published a Federal Register Notice of
Temporary Closure of 28 caves in New Mexico known to have significant
bat populations, probably as a direct result of a report of an
infected bat in the neighboring state of Oklahoma. That Temporary
Closure was for 2 years only and expired in January of 2013. At the
2012 Winter Tech, Ms. Marikay Ramsey (BLM bat biologist) announced
the intent of the BLM to renew the closure. In January of 2013, at a
special meeting in Albuquerque, Jim Goodbar, National BLM Cave Program
lead, again discussed that intent, and also mentioned that 3 of the
caves previously closed would be re-opened. The BLM revealed that it
was delegating the management of caving activities under the threat of
WNS to a state-wide Cave Management Team.
Cavers waited for the announcement that the Temporary Closure was
being renewed, or that a new Temporary Closure was being instituted.
This didn't happen (and hasn't happened to date). Instead, the BLM
merely said that the caves are "closed". Cavers inquiring about the
"closure" were told that BLM didn't need to have a Federal Register
Temporary Closure because the cave specialists could merely refuse to
issue permits.
This management plan, if it can be called that, for the BLM caves
that were previously closed by Federal Register Notice persisted for
another year, as cavers became increasingly dissatisfied with how the
caves were being managed. Meanwhile more research was being done on
WNS; research that demonstrated that bats were very good at
transmitting WNS from one to another, but that humans ere not very
good at spreading the fungus. In fact, we know of no credible
evidence that WNS has been spread from one cave to another by humans.
At the spring SWR regional on April 12, 2014 there was a significant
discussion of the BLM's continuing stand that they could close the
caves by just saying they are closed and what to do about it. One
idea was to ask for permits for some of the closed caves in order to
bring the issue to the forefront. This was done by several folks,
including Dave Belski and Stephen Fleming, who both requested
recreational permits to Fort Stanton Cave. Both were denied.
On May 6, 2014 the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation
announced that the previous report of a WNS bat in Oklahoma was a
false positive, and that no WNS infected bats had been detected in
Oklahoma. On May 9, BLM's Chief of Communications issued this
statement to the SWR mailing list:
*
*
*BLM New Mexico White-Nose Syndrome Closure Strategy Update*
*May 2014*
BLM New Mexico is evaluating the new information released by the
National Wildlife Health Center about the Woodward County, Oklahoma
bat originally tested in 2010 being now reclassified as negative for
Pseudogymnoascus/(/formerly /Geomyces) destructans /and White-nose
syndrome (WNS).
At this time, we are sustaining our WNS cave and abandoned mine
closure strategy. The BLMâs team of biologists, cave specialists,
and managers will work internally, as well as with our NM interagency
partners, to consider the new Oklahoma findings.
The BLM is the responsible party for managing hundreds of New Mexico
caves and abandoned mines and their resources. We will continue to do
so by using the best available science and by following laws,
regulations, and national BLM guidance to minimize risk and impacts to
these resources.
Moving forward, we will consider WNSâs significant movement westward
in the past four years, the number of caves open for recreation vs.
those closed on public lands in New Mexico (about 1,000 open to 25
closed), and the fact that even our closed caves have managed access
for scientific and administrative purposes.
We will proceed thoughtfully and scientifically to determine the
future of our WNS strategy. We are committed to keeping cavers and
the general public advised of any changes to our policy.
Many cavers, including myself, sent e-mails to various responsible
folks in BLM management encouraging a dialog on the topic of the
continuing management of these caves. To my knowledge NONE of those
e-mails were responded to, not even by a courtesy reply.
Meanwhile, cavers and SWR members Dave Belski and Stephen Fleming
considered their options regarding the denial of their recreational
permit requests. They were formulating a response that would attempt
to elicit the reasons why these caves were closed. As they formulated
the questions, it became obvious that what was really necessary was a
FOIA request. Fleming, a retired BLM law enforcement officer, wrote
the request, initially as his own request as a private citizen. After
getting the majority of the request written, he shared it with others,
including me. After reading the request, I realized that this FOIA
request reflects the interests and concerns of the caving community at
large and should be a request of the caving community. I petitioned
the SWR leadership, the executive committee of Peg Sorensen (chair),
Jim Evatt (vice-chair), Dave Belski (secretary) and Blake Jordan
(treasurer) to name Fleming as a special representative of the SWR and
allow him to file this FOIA request on behalf of the SWR. They agreed
that this was in the best interests of the region and named him the
Federal Liaison. On Monday morning, May 18 the FOIA request on behalf
of the SWR was filed with the BLM's FOIA coordinator at the state
office, with copies to several BLM management folks.
As I said earlier, this is probably the most significant action taken
by the SWR in this generation. It is an action not taken lightly, and
is not intended to discredit or demean the cave management efforts of
the BLM, but to bring those efforts to the light of day so that all
may understand how decisions were made. If the scientific evidence
exists that closure of the caves is effective in preventing the spread
of WNS then we want to see it. If the evidence exists that WNS is
moving rapidly towards New Mexico, we want to see it.
This should be an opportunity to clean the slate of recent cave
management practices by the BLM in New Mexico. When the evidence is
there for us to examine, can we proceed with a plan, incorporating the
scientific evidence now available, that appropriately protects our
bats, but also provides appropriate access to the caves that the BLM
has closed? I encourage everyone to comment and/or voice your
concerns or approval of the action that the SWR leadership has taken.
They have done this on your behalf. If you agree with it, let them
know that they have done the right thing.
Steve Peerman
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Posted by: Ty Spatta <axis...@bluemarble.net>
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