TPWD and BCI are sponsoring a cave gating workshop at Colorado Bend State Park on 25 to 30 September, 2011. We will be re-gating Gorman Cave with a state-of-the-art flyover gate, in order to accommodate the maternity colony of Myotis velifer and restrict unauthorized human entry.
To prepare for this event, we will be holding a work weekend 2 to 4 September. Our goals are to widen and straighten the trail from the upper gold mine to Gorman cave to facilitate steel and equipment hauling. We will also be staging some of the steel closer to the cave. We have use of the Conference Center for camping that weekend, because we all know it is still going to be horribly hot. Food will unfortunately not be provided, but we should have a couple of coolers of cold beverages for workers. Bring sturdy boots and work gloves. There may be a possibility of evening caving trips if I have enough trip leaders who are not exhausted, but no promises. Please give me a reply off-list if you are interested, so that I can keep a running count and know what to expect. I will post more details directions and times as we get closer to that weekend, so keep watching CaveTex for announcements. Feel free to distribute this amongst other cavers, repost on caver listserves, and publish in grotto newsletters. Thanks! Jim "Crash" Kennedy Cave Resources Specialist Bat Conservation International
