Denver’s 5280 Magazine reports in its July 2009 edition the sensationalistic story of old gold and human skeletons in Colorado’s Spanish Cave. The feature article, by Boulder outdoor author Peter Bronski, tells of a recent visit to the high altitude Sangre de Cristo Mountains cave with members of the Northern Colorado Grotto of the National Speleological Society. During this trip, the team visited much of the known cave system but sadly saw no indication of 15th century Spanish Conquistadors and gold mined by Native American slaves. Indeed, no trip to the cave in the last 90 years has seen any indication that the cave once was a Spanish gold mine.

Denver cave historian Donald G. Davis is a veteran Colorado caver, and a man who has been involved in many Western American cave discoveries, from New Mexico to Colorado to Montana. In the early 1960s, as a young caver seeking approval from the “establishment” Colorado Grotto members in Denver, Donald and other cavers from Colorado State University made several major discoveries in Spanish Cave, greatly expanding the scientific knowledge of this important Colorado cave. Yet, his teams and hundreds of other cavers who have visited the cave in the four decades since have failed to find a single piece of evidence indicating the cave was visited 400 years ago by anyone, much less Spanish Conquistadors. Unfortunately, through sensationalistic articles published in publications such as Denver’s 5280 Magazine, rumors of old gold and skeletons persist - not so much because the stories are true, but because they are good stories helpful in selling subscriptions and single copies at newsstands.

Donald Davis is a prolific writer and distinguished cave historian. During the 1960s and 1970s, Donald extensively researched the history of Spanish Cave and found it dates back to only the late 19th century, when residents of the Wet Mountain Valley began exploring the region, mostly for recreation, but also for valuable mineral deposits. It appears that the stories of old gold and skeletons date back only to the late 1910s and early 1920s, when Denver’s two major newspapers, The Denver Post, and the now-defunct Rocky Mountain News, were engaged in a newspaper war to gain paid subscriptions at the expense of the other. Like many other stories of the time, the stories of the “legends” of “La Caverna del Oro” were developed by clever newspaper men seeking to freely mine the gold from reader’s pockets, rather than by journalists who researched news for the truth.

Though the golden era of “yellow” journalism is long gone, it appears the need to sell magazines no matter the truth of the included content continues to this day. Peter Bronski’s “Golden Opportunity” is the most recent example regarding caves.

Online: http://www.5280.com/issues/2009/0907/feature.php?pageID=1801

Colorado cavers learned May 20 that the owners of the Orient Mine in the San Luis Valley of south central Colorado have decided to close the Orient Mine and caves owing to concerns regarding the spread of White Nose Syndrome. The mine and cave will be closed for public visitation during all of 2009.

The historic Orient Mine contains Colorado’s largest known bat colony. An estimated 100,000 to 250,000 Mexican free-tail bats spend their summers in the former iron mine. The mine intersects several natural cave passages in the Mississippian-age Leadville Limestone.

White Nose Syndrome has affected many bats in the northeastern United States, killing more than 95 percent of the affected hibernating bats in New York and Vermont. In the last two years, the fungus has been documented in other northeastern states, including Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. Federal authorities are taking the unusual step of closing all public caves, excepting commercial caves, in most of the eastern United States in an attempt to limit the spread of the fungus. This closure order has spread west of the Mississippi River, to Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma.  Privately-owned caves are not included in the closure, though authorities are encouraging private land owners to also close their caves to visitation.

Biologist Peter Youngbaer, the National Speleological Society White Nose Syndrome Liaison, reports that fears of the devastation of the Syndrome are real. He writes:

Having watched it ravage our northeastern hibernacula over the past two years, I can related to those people in newly-affected areas, such as the Virginias, who are just realizing that this is going to wreak havoc with their caving.  Out West, WNS is only on the margins of consciousness, but that is about to change big time.

Shane Briggs and Kirk Navo, the bat specialists for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, were unaware of the Orient Mine closure until I contacted them. Shane previously had reported in late April that federal and state authorities in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain West were monitoring White Nose Syndrome, but there were no plans or even discussions to close caves or mines in the region.

Kirk Navo contacted the Orient Land Trust on May 22 and confirmed the closure of the mine and caves. This is the first cave closure in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain West owing to WNS. The Land Trust posted the closure to their Facebook page on May 24.

Cavers in the eastern United States are facing an interesting dilemma. In many eastern states, cavers are deciding if they should respect wide cave closure orders from the federal government put in place to protect bats from the possible spread of the White Nose Syndrome, or if they should go caving and face a stiff fine and even a jail term.

Federal authorities in Missouri’s Mark Twain National Forest decided a pre-emptive closure of the forest’s more than 600 caves was in order, following similar closures in Indiana and Illinois. Although confirmed cases of White Nose Syndrome are not closer than Virginia and West Virginia, concerned bat biologists in federal lands in states across the continent are deciding to close wild, undeveloped caves for a year or longer. In Missouri, visitors to federal caves in the Mark Twain National Forest can be fined up to $5,000 or face six months in a federal prison.

The closure order applies only to federal caves, however, and does not include privately-owned or state-owned caves. Commercial caves are also exempt from the closure.

In Colorado, state and federal biologists are monitoring the ongoing studies of White Nose Syndrome, but have no plans to close caves anytime soon. Shane Briggs, the Colorado Division of Wildlife Conservation Programs Supervisor, reported April 27 that he is not aware of “any discussions or proposals to close caves in the west at this time.”

If the federal government asked you to stop caving today, possibly for the remainder of your life, would you be willing to do so? For northeastern American cavers, that particular question is being asked of them today.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service in the northeastern United States, watching with concern the spread of the White Nose Syndrome, has used the media, including the respected New York Times, to lay the blame on cavers for the spread of the syndrome to several northeastern and Appalachian states. Yet, in reading the growing discussions in the National Speleological Society’s Discussion Forum, there is little hard evidence that cavers are the responsible parties, any more than the blame can be placed on Batboy, the mythical Weekly World News creature of the 1990s. The result is that a growing number of cavers are reporting online that they will not cease caving, whether or not it will impact the bat populations of their caves.

As George W. Bush might say, continents no longer protect us from the spread of the pathogen. Since cavers travel widely and visit caves on their vacations, the pathogen might already have been transported across the country, dooming our bats. Even if it hasn’t already reached Colorado, the upcoming 2011 national convention in Glenwood Springs undoubtedly will introduce the pathogen to Colorado caves, given the apparent reluctance of eastern cavers to keep out of their caves forever.

Clearly, scientific study is the answer to this crisis, not demanding cavers give up their exploration, study and documentation of our nation’s caves.

This April’s National Speleological Society Board of Governors meeting in Colorado Springs, Colorado could bring dozens of cavers from eastern states to the caves of Williams Canyon. In many eastern states, cavers are currently refraining from entering or visiting caves in an attempt to combat the spread of White Nose Syndrome, a fatal fungus that infects hibernating bats and kills them. In some states, such as Virginia and New York, a moratorium has been placed on any caving by organized cavers.

Scientists and biologists studying the syndrome are currently at a loss to explain its spread to caves in nine eastern states since its first detection in New York in February 2006. One possible conduit for its spread is through unknowing cavers.

Cavers visiting Colorado from eastern states and intending to enter the caves should first undertake the vigorous decontamination procedure for all of their caving gear as described by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

The NSS maintains an informational page dedicated to providing news and information about the syndrome.

Ever consider taping your favorite caving trip? In the past, recording your caving trip required using a hand-held video camera and monitoring your recording through a small video screen. No longer, though - a California technology company has created a small, rugged digital video camera that is made especially for use in sporting activities.

Called the GoPro, the digital cameras can be attached to bikes, surf boards, cars, motorcycles, etc., as well as attached to a person. Imagine digitally recording your rappel down Golondrinas, or walking through the corridors of Lechuguilla Cave, or wading through the deep waters or Webster Cave, Kentucky. All this is possible using the GoPro.

GoPro cameras are not too unreasonably priced - several models are available in the $200 range. Normal and wide-lens models are produced, each offering nearly an hour of digital recording. Cameras run on AAA batteries and weigh less than 5 ounces. Video and audio are recorded to SD or SDHC cards.

Although GoPro offers a helmet mount for their camera, this probably is not an acceptable position for most cavers - the mount places the camera above the helmet, exactly where you bump your head in low-ceilinged passages. Contacting the customer service center at Woodman Labs, the company that produces the cameras, they recommended using a camera mount extension arm that will allow a side mounting of the camera. In doing so, where ever you look, the camera records.

One warning from the customer service center: the camera requires bright lighting to record.  A strong helmet-mounted LED lighting system should probably suffice.

Check out the camera online, including some interesting videos of different sporting activities recorded with the GoPro camera.

Thanks to the efforts of Paul Ryan, a free online registration form for the Spring National Speleological Society Board of Governors Meeting is now activated on the Colorado Grotto web site.

Cavers planning on attending all or part of the April 3-5 event at Colorado Springs should take a moment to enter their registration. This information will help the managing committee plan for lodging, meals and event participation, particularly for those cavers outside of the Denver-Colorado Springs area.

The BOG Meeting is hosted by the Southern Colorado Mountain Grotto, the Cave of the Winds and the Williams Canyon Project of the National Speleological Society.

Online:  http://coloradogrotto.org/index.php?id=128

At the city-owned Garden of the Gods park on the outskirts of Colorado Springs, a formerly popular cave awaits reopening. Calling it a cave is a bit of a stretch - Spaulding’s Cave is more of a closed fissure in the red Fountain sandstone that outcrops spectacularly in the Garden and brings thousands of visitors each year. An early attraction of the region - pioneer signatures dating back to the late 1850s are reported in the cave - but for the last 45 years, no one has examined these important records of the early history of the Pikes Peak region.

Closed by the City of Colorado Springs to visitation since 1935, Spaulding’s 200 feet of passage lies forgotten and ignored by most residents of the city and the great majority of visitors. Blocked by a secure cement and rebar plug, the cave beneath the North Gateway Rock has led to rumors of secret passageways leading from the Garden to Huccacove Cave in Williams Canyon, another cave closed to public visitation since the late 1970s. Although cavers with the National Speleological Society’s Williams Canyon Project have carefully explored, charted and studied the dusty passageways of Huccacove - Colorado’s first commercially-operated cave - lingering rumors hint of passageways leading east through the Manitou Limestone beneath Black Canyon and the Cedar Heights subdivision to the sandstones of Garden of the Gods. Geologically, this is impossible, but rumors live forever.

Since late December 2008, interest in Spaulding’s Cavern among residents of Colorado Springs and cavers has grown as the Colorado Springs Gazette published two articles about the cave by reporter Dave Philipps. The articles report on the cave’s history, including stories reporting the cave’s reopening in 1963 through a determined effort to pierce the cement plug by area school boys.

The Gazette articles also report that area historians are encouraging the city to reopen the cave so that the historic signatures can be documented and recorded. Members of the Colorado Springs-based Colorado Mountain Grotto of the NSS also have taken an interest in the cave and its possible reopening. If the cave is successfully reopened for study and documentation, a sturdy cave gate on its entrance might provide protection from vandalism, while allowing for future historic investigations.

For now, the Gazette reports the City of Colorado Springs is willing to consider a reopening of the cave, but doesn’t have the funding to manage the project and protect it after reopening. Perhaps this is where the Mountain Grotto might be of assistance, as cavers often manage projects for caves with very low funding.

Online:

http://www.gazette.com/articles/cave_45454___article.html/city_park.html

http://www.gazette.com/articles/cave_46273___article.html/old_lost.html

The Williams Canyon Project of the National Speleological Society will be meeting on January 31 at the Cave of the Winds. New Project Chairman Rick Speaect is seeking items for discussion by the board of directors for the meeting.

One new topic will be approval of a new Cave of the Winds board member. Director Laura Salinas of Woodland Park, Colorado, has announced her resignation with her pending move to Pennsylvania the week prior to the January 31 meeting. Laura has served on the board only since September 2008 and, until December, had served as one of the managers at the commercial Cave of the Winds.

Cave of the Winds manager Jeremy Stiles and general manager Grant Carey will be selecting a new board member for the project. Interested cavers should alert Jeremy.

This year is the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Williams Canyon Project. It was created in 1989 to serve as the National Speleological Society’s managing organization for caver activities at the popular Manitou Springs, Colorado commercial cave.

Members of the ad-hoc committee creating the new Colorado Cave Survey cave database have undertaken a spirited discussion in recent days regarding the purpose of the database, requirements for reviewing the database, and ultimately, how to protect caves from harm.

Some cavers are concerned that the creation of such a database may provide opportunities in the future for abuse among cavers and other individuals, along with potential abuse by local, state and federal government agencies. To me, it all comes down to a matter of trust.

Who can you trust with knowledge about caves and cave locations, particularly vulnerable caves?

Carl Bern, the Chair of the Colorado Cave Survey, noted my earlier blog on this topic and sent me a note detailing the current activities of the committee:

Your blog post on coloradocaves.org does help bring cavers attention to the issues we are discussing and gives some perspective. However, you make no mention of the organized process underway to accomplish the goal discussed in the blog post. It has been discussed at CCS and grotto meetings and I even gave a talk at the RMSS on the topic. This process is being made as open as possible and I’d appreciate if your post could reflect that. There are currently three reports from the Cave Information System committee available in electronic format to any caver who requests them by emailing me at cbern5 (at) juno.com. Cavers can receive new reports as they come out by subscribing to the CCS Google group by emailing the same address. Ideas, suggestions, and feedback can be given to any of the five current committee members listed in the reports. Let’s empower Colorado cavers to take part in this endeavor.

The Survey will most likely discuss this topic in detail at its upcoming meeting in January, 2009.