texascavers Digest 23 May 2014 01:54:48 -0000 Issue 1984
Topics (messages 23869 through 23873):
Re: [SWR files FOIA with NM BLM
23869 by: Lee H. Skinner
Underground GPS coming?
23870 by: Lee H. Skinner
Re: [Sandiagrotto] Fwd: [SWR] Background on the FOIA request to BLM
23871 by: Lee H. Skinner
Re: [SWR] Background on the FOIA request to BLM
23872 by: Louise Power
April Government Canyon Karst Project Report
23873 by: Marvin and Lisa
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
--- Begin Message ---
Dear Southwestern Cavers (and other interested persons). Sunday night,
May 18, the Southwestern Region filed a Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) request with the Bureau of Land Management. This action is to
compel release of data in connection with the "temporary" two year cave
closure which expired in January 2013, but is still used as a basis to
deny access without agency authority to do so. The FOIA became necessary
as the BLM has rebuffed or ignored all prior caver requests for
information on this topic but does not hesitate to instantly deny permit
requests with unsubstantiated explanations of need due to WNS. Such
action by the BLM is no longer acceptable. The information requested is
outlined below.
Jim Evatt
Vice Chair
Southwestern Region
May 18, 2014
RE: Freedom of Information Request
The Southwestern Region (SWR) of the National Speleological Society
(NSS) makes a request under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5
U.S.C. § 552, et. seq., for the following documents:
All information and documents concerning the BLM decision to close caves
relative to the threat of White-nose Syndrome (WNS) in the Roswell and
Carlsbad Field offices, but also including decisions to close caves in
other Field Office areas.
In particular, the SWR requests information that includes, but is not
limited to:
1. All scientific data supporting the decision to close caves, including
the specific studies and results indicating a direct and proximate
threat to New Mexico cave resources.
2. A listing of specialists consulted, their credentials and expertise
in determining a verifiable (not speculative) WNS threat to New Mexico
caves was imminent.
3. Data supporting the existence of a specific threat to each cave
closed by the Closure Order of January 25, 2011.
4. Analysis and decision-making data used to ensure the closure order
was in full compliance with the very specific requirements of 43 CFR
8364.1 for temporary closures, and how the closure order is in
conformance with the subsequent Instruction Memorandum 2013-035 which
clarified those requirements and processes.
5. Data used and legal justification for continued denial of access to
caves upon expiration of the closure order.
6. Internal memoranda and other written communications discussing any
and all factors and actions regarding the recent removal, by the US
Geological Survey (USGS), of Oklahoma as a state where WNS in bats has
been suspected or confirmed, and the parallel removal by the USGS of
Cave Myotis (Myotis velifer) from the list of bat species that have
tested positive for the fungus (Pseudogymnoascus destructans). This is
particularly important since the BLM NM cave closure scheme clearly was
conveniently predicated entirely upon the errant Oklahoma identification.
7. All correspondence from the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD)
relevant to the WNS closure process, including all documents from CBD
hinting at, or threatening, lawsuit if cave closures were not enacted.
8. Internal memoranda and other communications discussing any and all
factors and actions regarding a BLM response to the CBD relative to WNS.
9. All communications from BLM to the CBD regarding the agency's
position and actions concerning WNS.
10. Empirical scientific data demonstrating as factual the existence of
a human vector in field conditions.
11. Data demonstrating how the decontamination process is tested,
verified and monitored in the field as universal, compliant, and
efficacious, or even necessary, for each cave closed.
12. Number of permits issued to each cave during the closure period, the
nature of each permit (management, science, recreation, etc.), to whom
and the number of persons on each permit.
13. Number of permits issued to each cave since expiration of the
closure period, the nature of each permit (management, science,
recreation, etc.), to whom and the number of persons on each permit.
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
An interesting article about a new location technology (Quantum Compass)
that's extremely accurate and doesn't involved satellites. Eventually
(not anytime soon!) it could be small and cheap enough to be carried by
cave surveyors:
http://tinyurl.com/pgvjz4h
Lee Skinner
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
*From:* Steve Peerman <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>
*Date:* May 22, 2014, 1:51:50 PM MDT
*To:* Mailing List for SWR <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>
*Subject:* *[SWR] Background on the FOIA request to BLM*
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
Wlldlife 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 report, and that no WNS infected bats had been detected in New
Mexico. 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 BLM’s 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 WNS’s 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
that they have done the right thing.
Steve Peerman
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover."
attributed to Mark Twain, but no record exists of his having written
this.
_______________________________________________
SWR mailing list
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
http://lists.caver.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/swr
_______________________________________________
This list is provided free as a courtesy of CAVERNET
_______________________________________________
Sandiagrotto mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.caver.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sandiagrotto
_______________________________________________
This list is provided free as a courtesy of CAVERNET
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Just remember what your mama told you, "You can get more flies with honey than
vinegar." Be nice. BLM employees are people, too. You probably have no idea the
problems they have to cope with. Irate cavers, like irate ranchers, not being
the least of these.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]; [email protected]
Date: Thu, 22 May 2014 14:15:20 -0600
Subject: Re: [SWR] Background on the FOIA request to BLM
Steve,
I heartily agree with the SWR FOIA actions taken. I have personally written to
Jesse Juen and Donna Hummel at BLM expressing my concerns with their actions
toward cavers and specifically the closures and impact on recreational cavers.
I encourage every caver out there to send e-mail messages to Jesse Juen at
[email protected] and express their opinions and outrage at the actions that BLM NM
has taken to keep the caves closed.
Ken
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass - It's about dancing in the
rain.
From: [email protected]
Date: Thu, 22 May 2014 13:51:50 -0600
To: [email protected]
Subject: [SWR] Background on the FOIA request to BLM
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
Wlldlife 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 report, and that no WNS infected bats had been detected in New Mexico.
On May 9, BLM's Chief of Communications issued this statement to the SWR
mailing list:
BLM New Mexico White-Nose Syndrome Closure Strategy UpdateMay 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 forPseudogymnoascus (formerly Geomyces)
destructans and White-nose syndrome (WNS). At this time, we are sustaining our
WNS cave and abandoned mine closure strategy. The BLM’s 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 WNS’s 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 that they have done the right thing.
Steve Peerman
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, Sail away from
the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.
Discover." attributed to Mark Twain, but no record exists of his having
written this.
_______________________________________________
SWR mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.caver.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/swr
_______________________________________________
This list is provided free as a courtesy of CAVERNET
_______________________________________________
SWR mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.caver.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/swr
_______________________________________________
This list is provided free as a courtesy of CAVERNET
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
April Government Canyon Karst Project Report
April 7, 2014
Participants: Lasha Asanidze, Steve Gutting, Christopher Lafferty, Marvin
Miller, George Veni
Saturday morning we headed up the Joe Johnston Rd. to do some survey and
push leads in Big Dome Cave. It was George Veni's first visit to the cave.
Being quite familiar with the local geology he was able to identify the
limestone of the entrance room as the Dolomitic member of the Edwards, and
later to tentatively identify the contact with the Basal Nodular at
approximately the floor level below Big Dome.
George, Lasha, and I surveyed a pit in the breakdown where the Ramblin'
Roland Passage leaves the Breakaway Room. The Ramblin' Roland passage goes
to Big Dome. Lasha is a NCKRI student intern from the country of Georgia. He
was learning to survey. George set stations and Lasha read instruments and
we surveyed 8.48 meters to the bottom, starting at station 15. The lead at
the bottom did not tie into the Velvet Underground survey as I had
anticipated. The lead has airflow but is breakdown choked. A small hole
about a third of the way down the pit looked into the beginning of the
Velvet Underground but it wasn't navigable and we didn't survey through it.
After entering the data into the Walls mapping program I saw that the bottom
of the pit was the new deep point of the cave by 1.62 meters. The cave is
now 17.92 meters deep.
Steve and Chris surveyed a crawl under breakdown that started at a tight
entrance by station A3 and ended by tying into station B6 at the bottom of
5-Way Pit. They surveyed 10.26 meters and Steve reports that the right wall
of the passage needs to be checked for leads.
When George, Lasha, and I finished our survey we went to work on a dig that
Steve and Joe Schaertl had started on a few months before. The lead headed
east from station DD4. A hole stepped down into a crawl-able space and then
through another small hole into more space beyond. Both holes needed to be
opened up. The three of us worked on chiseling off part of the rock
obstructing the first hole until I managed to scrape through. Then I worked
on the second hole, which was thankfully obstructed by fairly rotten rock.
It wasn't long before I scraped through the second hole and found myself in
a 3-meter wide crawl that went north at least 5 meters and south about 10
meters. Then, as I was looking south I saw a light coming into the crawl at
that end. It was Chris and he had entered the passage without having to dig
at all. As I was following Chris back out the easy way, I noticed some
interesting space down through the breakdown at the beginning of the crawl
that ought to be investigated on a future trip.
The cave is now 329.54 meters in surveyed length.
April 8, 2014
Participants: Christopher Lafferty, Marvin Miller
Sunday was a rainy day and only Chris Lafferty showed up once again to help.
The trails were closed but the rain was only light and intermittent so we
set out to do some more ridgewalking in Area 5, just north of the Ranch
House and east of Laurel Canyon. The two of us couldn't cover a whole lot of
ground but we had a fruitful day, nonetheless, in that we found an
interesting cave. Situated at the base of a stair-stepping cliff on a steep
and brushy canyon side at an elevation of 1180 ft. was a small, dark
triangular hole. I called out to Chris, who was on the slope above the
cliff, and he announced that he was in a dry stream bed that was heading
straight for my location. He appeared on the cliff above and it is obvious
that a stream of water will fall to the base of the cliff and enter the cave
during storms. This was also obvious upon entering the cave. The floor from
the entrance to the near wall - approximately 2 meters inside - was clean
washed. A dirt-floored crawl led off to the right. Directly ahead, by the
wall, it looked like there might be a drop. I moved ahead on hands and knees
and found myself looking down a nice pit. The pit entrance was about .7
meters by 1.5 meters but it immediately belled out to approximately 3 meters
in diameter. About 5 meters down was a large sloping ledge but the main part
of the pit continued down at least another 5 meters and it looked like there
was another small ledge close to the bottom. Beyond that we couldn't see.
We were initially going to name the cave Rainy Day Cave but that name is
already taken in the TSS database, and after thinking about it I decided the
cave needed a more auspicious name anyway. I chose the name Solitude Pit.
Sitting alone in the cave twilight at the edge of a silent, but inviting,
pit gave me a feeling something like that.
We also recorded one additional karst feature that was already flagged but
had no aluminum tag and was outside of our previously covered area.
--- End Message ---
