texascavers Digest 17 Jun 2011 17:12:53 -0000 Issue 1337
Topics (messages 18061 through 18072):
cave vandals caught
18061 by: John P Brooks
18063 by: Don Arburn
18064 by: Rod Goke
Re: 2nd Quarter 2011 Texas Caver
18062 by: Mark Minton
New stream cave under Jerusalem :
18065 by: JerryAtkin.aol.com
Bexar County Conservation Plan Runs into Trouble :
18066 by: JerryAtkin.aol.com
Books donated
18067 by: Bill Bentley
18068 by: Marvin & Lisa
Books donated to libraries, cave owners, etc.
18069 by: Carl Kunath
book review: Cass Cave, West Virginia
18070 by: Mixon Bill
CBD Targets NSS Convention
18071 by: Mark Minton
book review: Tucker County, West Virginia
18072 by: Mixon Bill
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http://www.adventure-journal.com/2011/06/oregon-cave-art-vandals-nailed/
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It makes no mention of vandals being caught.
On Jun 15, 2011, at 2:49 PM, John P Brooks wrote:
>
> http://www.adventure-journal.com/2011/06/oregon-cave-art-vandals-nailed/
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Notice that the last paragraph states, "Efforts of the Oregon High Desert Grotto and a tips line opened by the Deschutes National Forest just led to the arrest of several suspects in the case."
-----Original Message-----
From: Don Arburn
Sent: Jun 16, 2011 2:29 PM
To: TSA Cavers
Subject: Re: [Texascavers] cave vandals caught
It makes no mention of vandals being caught.
On Jun 15, 2011, at 2:49 PM, John P Brooks wrote:
>
> http://www.adventure-journal.com/2011/06/oregon-cave-art-vandals-nailed/
|
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Kudos to Mark.Alman for another very
nice issue of the Texas Caver! Lots of nice
color photos. That's one of the advantages of an
online publication - you can have color for little or no additional cost.
I enjoyed Travis Scott's article about
using Google Earth to find a new cave. I know
many people have used that resource to find caves
as well as routes to get to them. It's always a
treat to find something that was right under your
nose all along. It reminded me of another
discovery that took place in Mexico in the early
'90s, although not by using Google Earth, which
didn't exist then. For years cavers had been
camping on the promontory outside of La
Yerbabuena in Purificación. It is a spectacular
spot, ringed by cliffs that fall off over 150
meters on three sides. One year the locals put
in a new logging road that allowed access to the
area beyond those cliffs. When cavers hiked over
to check it out, they looked back in awe at the
huge entrance in the cliffs below camp. Actually
getting to that entrance was an epic adventure in
itself, and ultimately led to a cave 1.8 km long
(Cueva Paraíso Difícil). A photo of the entrance
is on the cover of AMCS Activities Newsletter no.
19, <http://www.amcs-pubs.org/nl/19.html>. The
story is in Death Coral Caver no. 2 <http://www.purificacion.org/dcc2.htm>.
Mark Minton
Please reply to [email protected]
Permanent email address is [email protected]
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Beneath Jerusalem, a river runs deep
Excavators digging for a new railway station deep under the surface of
central Jerusalem have discovered what geologists say is the largest
underground river ever found in Israel. And while its deep canyons and
waterfalls
may be an impressive find for scientists, it doesn't contain a significant
amount of the precious fluids to affect the water balance in this
traditionally parched city. “We found a nice but small underground river,”
Professor
Amos Frumkin, head of the Cave Research Unit of the Hebrew University's
Department of Geography, told The Media Line. “In terms of Israel, it's the
longest underground stream that we have ever seen. It is a kind of a canyon
that has been cut by the stream of the water over a long period of time,
maybe millions of years,” Frumkin said. Frumkin and his team were called upon
by Israel Railways after its engineers chanced upon the cave while
excavating an 80-meter (260-foot) shaft close to the city's main convention
center
and central bus station that is being drilled for a huge, underground
station that will serve the high-speed Jerusalem-Tel Aviv railway. “When they
reached the depth of 75 meters they cut into this cave accidentally. The
water started flowing into this shaft and they had some problems until they
found some engineering solution and called us,” Frumkin said. “We were the
first humans ever to set foot inside this cave. However, it wasn't very
easy. It meant crawling in mud and some rappelling on ropes was required. So
you needed some spelunking techniques,” he said. “It was beautiful. One
canyon was over 200 meters long and we never reached its end. We found some
waterfalls inside, which was nice for our arid country.” Jerusalem is not
known for its water sources and there is only one major spring in the city,
the
biblical Gihon, which has been gurgling since before King David's time.
With a population of some 700,000, Jerusalem gets its water pumped up from
the coastal aquifer. Frumkin said the cave appears to have developed after
water seeped in from the surface and dissolved the underlying limestone.
_http://www.jpost.com/Sci-Tech/Article.aspx?id=224852_
(http://www.jpost.com/Sci-Tech/Article.aspx?id=224852)
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--- Begin Message ---
Bexar County Camp Bullis Conservation Plan Runs into Trouble
By Colin McDonald
Updated 12:21 a.m., Sunday, June 12, 2011
In an attempt to protect the mission at Camp Bullis and 11 endangered
species, and get developers to comply with federal law, Bexar County is writing
a habitat conservation plan to cover seven counties spread across the
southern portion of the Edwards Plateau.
The county aims to give developers an easier way to mitigate habitat loss
by creating a bank of protected habitat they can buy into.
But Bexar County already has ruffled feathers with its counterparts by not
seeking their input in the draft, and it recently faced a no-confidence
vote for the effort from a _citizens advisory committee_
(http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=living_green_sa&search=
1&inlineLink=1&query="Citizens+Advisory+Committee") .
“It is etiquette,” said Kendall County Commissioner _Darrel Lux_
(http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=living_gree
n_sa&search=1&inlineLink=1&query="Darrel+Lux") , who has been attending the
planning meetings and is still upset that he and other county
commissioners were not included early on.
Instead of collaborating with the other counties, Bexar County decided it
would be best to first draft and present the plan, said Andrew Winter, Bexar
County's environmental engineer.
“Hindsight is 20/20.” he said. “It would have been better to go to the
_County Commissioners Court_
(http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=living_green_sa&search=1&inlineLink=1&query="County+
Commissioners+Court") first.”
By trading habitat credits, Bexar County hopes the _U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service_
(http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=living_green_sa&search=1&inlineLink=1&query="U.S.+Fish+and+Wildlife+S
ervice") will allow a certain amount of development to continue in the
northern part of the county, home to the endangered golden-cheeked warbler,
black-capped vireos and nine karst invertebrate species.
Most of the protected habitat in Bexar County is at Camp Bullis.
“But we don't want to be the lone island of refuge,” said _Jim Cannizzo_
(http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=liv
ing_green_sa&search=1&inlineLink=1&query="Jim+Cannizzo") , an environmental
lawyer for the Army.
The training base has all the conservation credits it needs now, but that
could change in the future if the mission of the base changes. A strategy to
protect the species across the region would help give the base long-term
security, he said.
The entire process of writing and submitting the plan for review to the
USFWS will take more than a year and is paid for by $1.8 million in federal,
city and county funding. Winter and the consultants have until this fall to
build a consensus.
But consensus-building remains difficult given the county's initial
misstep, and the notion that counties would have to partner with the federal
government to enforce the Endangered Species Act on private property, said
Kendall Commissioner _Kenneth Rusch_
(http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=living_green_sa&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=";
Kenneth+Rusch") .
“Anything with a ‘U.S.' in front of it,” he said. “Right then and there
everyone is going to say, ‘Back up.'”
This week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will gather public input
about the plan.
Under the current draft, developers can mitigate their tree losses only in
Bexar County. In surrounding counties, landowners can agree to sell
conservation tracts so developers in Bexar County can clear land or blast and
fill
caves.
But developers in those outside counties would have to ask their county
commissioners to first agree to an interlocal agreement with Bexar County.
And that brings another challenge.
In November, the biological advisory team wrote that a 3-to-1 mitigation
ratio is needed, where at least three acres of habitat is set aside for every
acre developed in Bexar County. It also called for 60 percent of that
conservation to take place inside Bexar County or within a five-mile buffer.
But Winter said that would be too expensive because of high land prices. So
he instructed the consultants to come up with a plan that mitigated at a
2-to-1 ratio and required 15 percent of the mitigation to take place in
Bexar County.
Richard Heilbrun, a biologist with the _Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department_
(http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=living_green_sa&search=1&inlineLink=1&query="Texas+Parks+and+Wildlife+Depart
ment") and chairman of the biological advisory team, said the fact land
is expensive does not preclude protections.
“Don't give up on a huge portion of the range, i.e. Bexar County, just
because it is difficult and expensive,” he said.
Annalisa Peace executive director of the _Greater Edwards Aquifer
Alliance_
(http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=living_green_sa&search=1&inlineLink=1&query="Greater+Edwards+Aquifer+Alliance
") , who sits on the Citizens Advisory Committee, agreed that high
mitigation costs shouldn't derail the trade-offs.
“Developers should have to pay for the cost of development,” she said.
But Winter counters that, if the cost of participating in the program is
too high, developers will simply opt out and the current pattern of habitat
destruction with no mitigation will continue.
“If it is too cheap and it does not do anything, it's worthless,” he said
of the plan. “But if it's too expensive and no one participates, it's also
worthless.”
The Citizens Advisory Committee will meet for a two-day workshop Wednesday
and Thursday to see if it can work out its differences.
When the committee was first presented with this draft of the plan, it took
a straw poll that resulted in a vote of no confidence.
Still the participants have hope. They have all summer to figure this out.
“In any public process you have to have a starting point,” Heilbrun said.
“This is not a failed process, this is how the process goes.”
_http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/environment/ar
ticle/Conservation-plan-runs-into-trouble-1420445.php&sa=U&ei=8az6TdvPFdTPiA
KQ5IjwBA&ved=0CBgQFjAA&usg=AFQjCNHJudcPn6QqBSssNhQZHzjWg4V9kQ_
(http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/environment/article/Conserv
ation-plan-runs-into-trouble-1420445.php&sa=U&ei=8az6TdvPFdTPiAKQ5IjwBA&ved=
0CBgQFjAA&usg=AFQjCNHJudcPn6QqBSssNhQZHzjWg4V9kQ)
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Texas Cavers,
A while back another Texas grotto challenged every other Texas Grotto to
buy $100.00 worth of books from the National Speleological Society Bookstore
and donate them to their local Public Libraries. The Permian Basin
Speleological Society has answered and fulfilled that challenge by buying over
$100.00 worth of cave books and along with some free brochures from the
National Speleological Society and donating them to the Sibley Nature Center
here in Midland, Texas.
http://www.caver.net/images/booksdonatedp.jpg
The above picture is PBSS 2011 President Jacqui Thomas presenting Richard Galle
of the Sibley Nature Center one of the many books donated by the members of the
PBSS.
http://www.caver.net/images/booksdonated.jpg
The above picture is the books and brochures that were donated to the Sibley
Nature Center.
The PBSS had previously donated a copy of Carl Kunath's book "50 Years of Texas
Caving" to the Sibley Nature Center shortly after it was published.
More information about "50 Years of Texas Caving" can be found here:
http://pages.suddenlink.net/carl-kunath/50_Years/50_Years.html
More information about the Sibley Nature Center can be found on the web site
here: http://www.sibleynaturecenter.org/
Thanks,
Bill Bentley,
PBSS Treasurer 2011
PBSS Web Page: http://www.caver.net/pbss/pbss.html
NSS Web Page: http://www.caves.org/
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Way to go, Bill!
Don't forget the Caves and Karst of Texas promised by Ron Ralph and the TSS.
The Bexar grotto donated $100 worth of NSS books and Caves and Karst to the
Bulverde - Spring Branch Public Library.
Marvin Miller
_____
From: Bill Bentley [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2011 10:02 PM
To: Texascavers Mailing List
Cc: PBSS Mailing List; [email protected]; Richard Galle - Work;
[email protected]
Subject: [Texascavers] Books donated
Texas Cavers,
A while back another Texas grotto challenged every other Texas Grotto
to buy $100.00 worth of books from the National Speleological Society
Bookstore and donate them to their local Public Libraries. The Permian
Basin Speleological Society has answered and fulfilled that challenge by
buying over $100.00 worth of cave books and along with some free brochures
from the National Speleological Society and donating them to the Sibley
Nature Center here in Midland, Texas.
http://www.caver.net/images/booksdonatedp.jpg
The above picture is PBSS 2011 President Jacqui Thomas presenting Richard
Galle of the Sibley Nature Center one of the many books donated by the
members of the PBSS.
http://www.caver.net/images/booksdonated.jpg
The above picture is the books and brochures that were donated to the Sibley
Nature Center.
The PBSS had previously donated a copy of Carl Kunath's book "50 Years of
Texas Caving" to the Sibley Nature Center shortly after it was published.
More information about "50 Years of Texas Caving" can be found here:
http://pages.suddenlink.net/carl-kunath/50_Years/50_Years.html
More information about the Sibley Nature Center can be found on the web site
here: http://www.sibleynaturecenter.org/
Thanks,
Bill Bentley,
PBSS Treasurer 2011
PBSS Web Page: http://www.caver.net/pbss/pbss.html
NSS Web Page: http://www.caves.org/
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Congratulations to PBSS and Bexar Grotto for taking the lead in this excellent
program.
Remember that 50 Years of Texas Caving is available at a discount when destined
for a library, cave owner, or similar worthy recipient. The retail price is
$60 but such copies are available for $45 when picked up or $50 if mailed
directly to the recipient.
===Carl Kunath
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: Marvin & Lisa
To: 'Texascavers Mailing List'
Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2011 9:33 PM
Subject: RE: [Texascavers] Books donated
Way to go, Bill!
Don't forget the Caves and Karst of Texas promised by Ron Ralph and the TSS.
The Bexar grotto donated $100 worth of NSS books and Caves and Karst to the
Bulverde - Spring Branch Public Library.
Marvin Miller
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Bill Bentley [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2011 10:02 PM
To: Texascavers Mailing List
Cc: PBSS Mailing List; [email protected]; Richard Galle - Work;
[email protected]
Subject: [Texascavers] Books donated
Texas Cavers,
A while back another Texas grotto challenged every other Texas Grotto
to buy $100.00 worth of books from the National Speleological Society Bookstore
and donate them to their local Public Libraries. The Permian Basin
Speleological Society has answered and fulfilled that challenge by buying over
$100.00 worth of cave books and along with some free brochures from the
National Speleological Society and donating them to the Sibley Nature Center
here in Midland, Texas.
http://www.caver.net/images/booksdonatedp.jpg
The above picture is PBSS 2011 President Jacqui Thomas presenting Richard
Galle of the Sibley Nature Center one of the many books donated by the members
of the PBSS.
http://www.caver.net/images/booksdonated.jpg
The above picture is the books and brochures that were donated to the Sibley
Nature Center.
The PBSS had previously donated a copy of Carl Kunath's book "50 Years of
Texas Caving" to the Sibley Nature Center shortly after it was published.
More information about "50 Years of Texas Caving" can be found here:
http://pages.suddenlink.net/carl-kunath/50_Years/50_Years.html
More information about the Sibley Nature Center can be found on the web site
here: http://www.sibleynaturecenter.org/
Thanks,
Bill Bentley,
PBSS Treasurer 2011
PBSS Web Page: http://www.caver.net/pbss/pbss.html
NSS Web Page: http://www.caves.org/
--- End Message ---
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The Survey of Cass Cave, Pocahontas County, West Virginia. Edited by
Robert Zimmerman, with cartography by Robert Zimmerman and Gregory S.
Springer. West Virginia Speleological Survey Monograph 4; 2011. 8.5 by
11 inches, 63 pages, softbound. $16 postpaid from www.wvass.org/publications.html
.
This new book on Cass is similar in format to WVASS Monograph 3 on
Cassell Cave (NSS News, November 2009). There is a history of the
cave, including two fatal accidents in notorious Suicide Falls; it is
named that after a genuine suicide in the cave years earlier. A
detailed text description of the cave and a clear chapter on geology
and speleogenesis follow. A set of twenty-three quad maps of the cave
plan is very nicely detailed, although it is, inevitably, rather
confusing where underlying passages are offset. The quads don't follow
a rigid grid, which minimizes the number of them that contain little
passage, but they don't overlap, so the important junction of Cass
Annex Cave with the Big Room is split between two sheets. The plans of
the passages do extend a quarter inch beyond the borders of the quads,
which makes it easier to follow them from page to page. There are many
cross-sections, but only one page with a couple of small-scale
profiles. A nice and fairly priced book on one of the most famous
caves in West Virginia, unfortunately now closed.—Bill Mixon
----------------------------------------
He who renders warfare fatal to all engaged in it will be the greatest
benefactor the world has yet known.--Sir Richard Burton
----------------------------------------
You may "reply" to the address this message
came from, but for long-term use, save:
Personal: [email protected]
AMCS: [email protected] or [email protected]
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In their ongoing effort to ban caving in the name of
protecting bats from WNS, the Center for Biological Diversity is
complaining about the NSS Convention in
Colorado.
<http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2011/white-nose-syndrome-06-14-2011.html>.
Mark Minton
Please reply to [email protected]
Permanent email address is [email protected]
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
The Caves and Karst of Tucker County, West Virginia. Doug McCarty and
Brian Masney. West Virginia Speleological Survey Bulletin 18; 2011.
8.5 by 11 inches, 302 pages, softbound. Black and white $30 postpaid,
color edition $85 from www.wvass.org/publications.html.
A traditional catalog of caves and karst features, in this case about
three hundred of them, half "for the record," meaning springs, sinks,
blowing holes, and other potential cave sites. There are 96 maps of
varying quality; some extend over several pages. It will be hard to
ever lose any of these caves, because locations are plotted on both
topographic maps and aerial photos and entrance coordinates are given
in both NAD27 meters and WGS84 latitude-longitude. (The difference is
about 10 meters in Tucker County.) There are numerous black-and-white
or color photos, depending on which edition you buy. They mostly show
the cave entrances, as a further aid in identification. The black-and-
white version, which is the only one it is sensible to buy, includes a
CD of the maps, as well as all the photos in color, and a few more. As
a complete survey, naturally most of the caves are small, but included
are long and well-known systems such as Cave Hollow-Arbogast and Big
Springs Blowing.—Bill Mixon
----------------------------------------
He who renders warfare fatal to all engaged in it will be the greatest
benefactor the world has yet known.--Sir Richard Burton
----------------------------------------
You may "reply" to the address this message
came from, but for long-term use, save:
Personal: [email protected]
AMCS: [email protected] or [email protected]
--- End Message ---
