Hi folks,
This is directed at the members of the South Western Region (SWR)
First a little background. At the beginning of this year the Guadalupe
District of the Lincoln National Forest (LNF) closed all caves in the District
to Recreational Caving. The caving community screamed and yelled and finally
got the attention of the LNF management. After two meeting with the cavers,
the LNF reopened nine caves for recreational caving.
Since that time I have been working with Jerry Trout (now retired) and others
in the LNF to develop a more cooperative relationship between the SWR and the
LNF. At the SWR Regional meeting on Labor Day I outlined to those present what
I was attempting to do.
During a recent meeting between members of the SWR and the LNF we arrived at a
list of 43 caves that are being considered for recreational permits. There
will be at least one more meeting of those individuals to complete the list.
Caves on the list will be considered for three types of recreational permits:
1) Permit where no dedicated leader is required, 2) trips where a trip leader
knowledgeable of the cave is required and 3) trips where a Forest Service guide
is required. There are also at one cave on the list that was considered too
dangerous for recreational caving due to bad air conditions. We also noted
that one cave is closed due to the presence of human remains.
That is what has occurred to date or is ongoing. Now moving forward:
I and the folks at LNF are now in the final stages of drafting a working
agreement between the two organizations. The following is an overview of what
the SWR will be expected to do under this agreement.
The LNF now considers us as the “Cave Experts” as they do not have anyone on
staff that is knowledgeable of the caves within the LNF. The LNF has a
requirement on the book to monitor all the caves within their area of
responsibility – well over 100 caves.
Under the agreement we will be required to perform monitoring trips to as many
of the caves as possible. Monitoring trips will be performed by teams of four
to six individuals. Activities to be performed on these trips include:
a) Mapping and surveying of caves which have not previously been mapped.
b) Photo documentation of the condition of the caves, unique formations, any
noted vandalism and any life forms observed.
c) Recommendations of caves that need restoration work.
d) Possible temperature readings if digital thermometers are available.
e) Presence and estimated number of bats
f) Each trip will require a detailed trip report specifying what was observed,
potentially dangerous situations or spots (loose rocks, slippery footing,
extremely difficult vertical work required, etc.), life forms observed,
archeological sightings, condition of formations, etc.
While the initial trips will be to those caves which are on the list of 43
curently being considered for recreational permits, eventually the monitoring
trips will be extended to caves which are not available for recreational caving
permits.
This is an excellent opportunity for us to visit these caves and assist the LNF
in developing their data base of information on the caves which they are
charged with administering.
As a part of the agreement I am required to provide a listing of the names of
individuals from the SWR who could be expected to be involved in the monitoring
trips. I am also required to provide a tentative schedule of when we could
make some of the monitoring trips. The schedule is fairly easy for me but I
now need to know how much support is really out there to perform these trips.
If there is not sufficient interest then both the management team at LNF and
myself are just spinning our wheels and wasting a lot of precious time.
So I now need to know who would be willing to be involved in participating in
these trips. Please e-mail at ken_harring...@hotmail.com if you would like to
be involved. Hopefully, my inbox will be full of positive responses.
Thanks!
Ken
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass - It's about dancing in the
rain.
_______________________________________________
NMCAVER mailing list
nmca...@caver.net
http://caver.net/mailman/listinfo/nmcaver_caver.net
