All: So far I have counted 5 people who have negative concerns for the FOIA the SWR submitted. Where were they at the last regional meeting? Only Jenn was present and she did voice an opinion. The rest should have been there. I suggested a written petition for information on cave closures to the BLM with cavers signing but was informed that petitions are ignored or conveniently lost. An FOIA was mentioned and given short discussion. It was late so it was agreed the discussion of what to do to get BLM to answer our questions would continue after the meeting. SWR meetings,except for winter tech, lately have been notorious for small attendance. Where were those other negative responses at that time? Don't blame our officers for taking action to get a reaction(hopefully). ET On May 31, 2014 10:53 AM, "michael queen" <[email protected]> wrote:
> I rather agree with Stan's points: > > * It's not clear the actions will have the desired effect > > * It seems likely to be regarded as confrontational, regardless of claims > of the board to the contrary > > * By acting without consulting the SWR membership, the board reduces the > force of a statement had it been approved by the membership, and opens > themselves to the appearance of have acted unilaterally, without concern > for the ideas of SWR membership > > Michael Queen > > > On Fri, May 30, 2014 at 8:22 PM, Stan Allison <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Southwestern Cavers, >> >> I am writing to you as a Southwestern Region member and as a caver who >> leads and participates in exploration, survey and cartography projects as >> well as scientific projects and recreational caving on BLM managed lands. I >> want to express my disappointment in both the Southwestern Region officers >> submitting a FOIA request to the BLM and the manner in which it was >> submitted without consulting with the SWR membership until after the FOIA >> had been submitted. >> I believe that the FOIA request is a bad idea for the following reasons: >> >> - I don’t think that this FOIA will result in any change of >> management or closures of BLM caves. Reviewing the hundreds to thousands >> of >> BLM WNS related emails and correspondence will probably take tens to >> hundreds of hours and will probably not reveal anything that we don’t >> already know. Even if we do learn something new, I doubt that it will be >> substantive enough to require the BLM to make any significant changes in >> cave management policies. >> - Submitting a FOIA request to the BLM is the same tactic that the >> Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) used with the BLM. I don’t agree >> with >> the CBD’s tactics in dealing with WNS and federal agencies and in >> particular don’t want to see the SWR emulating the CBD’s tactics. I have >> heard SWR members and officers complain about the CBD tactics in >> dealing with WNS and am surprised that we are now following in their >> footsteps. >> - Responding to this FOIA will take BLM cave managers away from their >> duties of managing caves and will mean that our tax dollars spend more >> time >> on responding to a frivolous FOIA request rather than managing caves and >> karst. >> - The SWR has a long history of cooperating and working with the BLM. >> While we certainly don’t always agree with everything that the BLM has >> done, I think that this FOIA request will damage the SWR BLM relationship >> and cause more harm than good. I don’t believe that the FOIA request will >> further the goals of the SWR. >> >> I am also disappointed with the SWR officers in not consulting with >> the membership before creating a new Federal Liaison position and >> submitting a FOIA to the BLM. It appears that a false sense of urgency was >> created in order to rush the process along without consulting the >> membership. I would also hope that a SWR Federal Liaison would work to >> maintain and build the SWR/BLM relationship rather than damaging our >> relationship. I think that the SWR officers have made a mistake in >> creating and filling a Federal liaison position without consulting with the >> membership and that submitting a SWR FOIA request to the BLM without >> consulting with the membership was also a mistake. I’m hopeful that the >> SWR’s past record of excellent cooperation with the BLM in cave >> management, science, survey, bat monitoring, exploration, cartography, >> education, photography, restoration and recreational caving will help us >> maintain a good working relationship with the BLM in the future despite >> this recent blunder. >> >> Thank you for considering my concerns and good caving to all of you. >> >> Stan Allison >> >> _______________________________________________ >> SWR mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.caver.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/swr >> _______________________________________________ >> This list is provided free as a courtesy of CAVERNET >> > > > _______________________________________________ > SWR mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.caver.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/swr > _______________________________________________ > This list is provided free as a courtesy of CAVERNET >
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