Breaking from the blanket closure policies of the United States Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management Renewable Resources and Planning Office in Washington has directed state offices to take the lead in determining if targeted cave and non-active mine closures are advantageous to protecting bats from the spread of the Geomyces destructans pathogen.
The August [...]
For many visitors to scenic Williams Canyon, north of Manitou Springs, Colorado, the aging bronze plaque was a curiosity. Erected on the Ordovician-age Manitou limestone wall near the locked Williams Canyon gate, the plaque commemorated Henry Truman Williams, a New York City author and editor, who died in 1915.
Sometime between June 22 and June 24, [...]
Mindful of past inaction that may have resulted in the unintended spread of the White Nose Syndrome fungus to additional caves and inactive mines on federal property in the eastern United States, Deputy Regional Forester Tony Dixon’s bold July 27 order to immediately close entry to thousands of caves and mines in the five state [...]
President Abraham Lincoln, in his First Inaugural Address on March 4, 1861, appealed to a country facing an impassable division that would ultimately result in Civil War. He plead to his countrymen for reason and caution and to not allow passions of the day to rule:
“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be [...]
Although US Forest Service officials seem all but certain to issue a blanket cave closure order for all caves and inactive mines on Forest lands in the Rocky Mountain region owing to concerns about the spread of the White Nose Syndrome fungus, Colorado’s three commercially-operated caves will remain open for business.
Cave of the Winds and [...]
Colorado cavers have been notified that all Colorado, South Dakota and most Wyoming caves with the US Forest Service will be closed the week of July 12, 2010 owing to the presence of the White Nose Syndrome fungus in a state-owned cave in west-central Oklahoma.
Here is the official Colorado Cave Survey notification from chair David [...]
Throughout the eastern United States, federal and state land owners have adapted the dramatic step of closing all public caves to visitation in a determined effort to slow the spread of the fungus that leads to White Nose Syndrome among bats. Since first identified in February 2006, the WNS pathogen has spread from New York [...]
The news today that the Center for Biological Diversity has decided to sue the federal Department of the Interior over its lack of response to providing a plan to protect America’s bats from White Nose Syndrome is hardly surprising.
The Center’s June 23 announcement about their pending lawsuit is clear that their January 2010 Endangered Species [...]
The nature of caves is such that those who explore and study them can sometimes be obsessive. How long is this cave? How deep is it? How does it compare to other caves? This obsession can sometimes be healthy, leading to greater discoveries and scientific knowledge, or it can lead to tragedy.
Outdoor author James M. [...]
“If anyone asks you, I’m planning on going to Mexico to go on a caving expedition for a couple weeks,” wrote Colorado Grotto member LeAnn Emry in a January 14, 2003 email to cousin Heather Emry.
Fifteen days later, near a natural gas well in Utah’s lonely Bryson Canyon just west of the Colorado border, Emry [...]