Jerry,
I plan to make a motion at tommorrow’s grotto meeting to help fund this. Marvin From: Texascavers [mailto:texascavers-boun...@texascavers.com] On Behalf Of Jerryatkin via Texascavers Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2016 6:29 AM To: texascavers@texascavers.com Subject: [Texascavers] Fwd: Powell’s Cave Gate Project Needs Your Help : Just a reminder that the gate still needs funding. Jerry. Sent from my iPad Begin forwarded message: From: Jerry <jerryat...@aol.com <mailto:jerryat...@aol.com> > Date: June 9, 2016 at 3:21:56 AM MDT To: Texascavers@texascavers.com <mailto:Texascavers@texascavers.com> Subject: Powell’s Cave Gate Project Needs Your Help : Powell’s Cave Gate Project Needs Your Help Powell’s Cave is the second longest cave in Texas, with 26.1 km of surveyed passage. Treasure hunters dug the historic entrance open in the early 1900s and it is now stabilized with a concrete culvert installed by volunteer cavers in the late 1990s. The cave is used as a roost by a large colony of Cave Myotis (Myotis velifer). Recently, during a scheduled visit to the cave, it was discovered that trespassers had entered the cave and vandalized it, leaving cans, bottles, and other miscellaneous trash in the cave. Unfortunately, this also included spray-painting graffiti on the cave walls in the Crevice Passage (see attached photos). Concerns about protecting the integrity of the cave as well as the vulnerable bat colony (estimated at about 10,000 individuals) have led to the decision to install an above ground, bat-friendly, cupola-style gate, similar to the one recently built for Ezell’s Cave in Hays County. Jim Kennedy of Kennedy Above/Under Ground LLC has been contracted to build the gate and it is hoped that it will be completed sometime in the next month or so. As part of the agreement with the landowner, cavers will be paying for the labor and ancillary costs of the gate construction, while the landowner will pay for the materials. This was done to support continuing landowner relations and demonstrate our commitment to the protection and stewardship of the cave. We need to raise approximately $3300 to cover our end of the deal. If you are interested in helping the project, please consider a cash pledge to help in alleviating the costs. Powell’s Cave has been an important part of Texas caving for more than 50 years, and hopefully will be open to recreational caving and research for many years to come. If all goes well, there will be clean up and restoration trips in the future that folks can volunteer for. Any and all donations of time and money are greatly appreciated. Pledges can be sent to: Gerald Atkinson – Powell’s Cave Liaison jerryat...@aol.com <mailto:jerryat...@aol.com> If you have any questions, please email me. Thanks ! Photos courtesy of Arron Wertheim (May 2016)
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