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Forest Service Plans to Clean and Close Blue Crystal Cave Release Date: Apr 26, 2011 Contact(s): Valerie Carlson or Jeff Goldberg at (605) 642-4622 Spearfish, SD- Forest officers are asking for public comments on a plan to install bat-friendly gates and temporarily close Blue Crystal Cave. Blue Crystal Cave is located just south of Sturgis, SD, in Vanocker Canyon. Northern Hills District Ranger Rhonda O’Byrne said the cave once provided quality habitat for a wide variety of bat species. O’Byrne said bat use of the cave has declined since the 1990s, probably resulting from increased human use of the cave. Officials would install bat-friendly gates at the cave’s entrances to allow bat use and regulate human entry. People would be allowed to use the cave after the threat of white-nose syndrome has ended. “We will clean up trash and clean accumulated soot and graffiti from the cave’s walls,” said Valerie Carlson, wildlife biologist. Carlson said the measures are intended to improve habitat for bat species, protect cave resources, and help with enforcement of a Forest Service cave closure order. With the exception of Wonderland Cave, all caves and abandoned mines on the Black Hills National Forest are closed to the public for at least one year. The closure is intended to help slow the spread of white-nose syndrome. White-nose syndrome, a fungal disease, has already killed great numbers of bats in the eastern United States and has been spreading westward over time. Scientists have confirmed that the disease is transmitted bat-to-bat and cave-to-bat, but the disease may also be spread by humans. People are still using the cave in spite of the closure order,” O’Byrne said. Comments on the proposal should be received by May 16. Comments may be mailed to Jackie Groce, Natural Resource Planner, at the Northern Hills Ranger District, 2014 N. Main St., Spearfish, SD 57783 or submitted electronically at [email protected]. Those interested in learning more about the project may contact District Biologists Jeff Goldberg or Valerie Carlson at 605-642-4622. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://missoulian.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_344c8606-6cf4-11e0-be9c-001cc4c03286.html Cave closures a batty decision Missoulian editorial missoulian.com | Posted: Friday, April 22, 2011 9:19 am | 1 Comment All of a sudden, the U.S. Forest Service has decided that emergency measures are needed to save bat populations in the Forest Service's Northern Region. This means the Forest Service is unilaterally closing all caves to recreational caving for at least a year; educational groups may be kept out, too. The reason given for this sudden, sweeping closure is that hibernating bats in another part of the country are being killed off by a spreading disease called White Nose Syndrome. The disease has not been detected here, and the closures would apply even to caves that do not contain hibernating bat colonies - as well as to caves populated by bats but inaccessible to humans. And why the sudden emergency closure? This disease has been under study for years. Nobody wants to see bats here stricken with a deadly disease - especially not to the extent it has struck bat colonies in at least 13 states in the East and Southeast, where White Nose Syndrome is believed to have killed at least a million bats since it was first detected in New York in 2006. In the last few years the syndrome has been studied extensively but has not yet produced firm conclusions as to its causes. It is still unclear if humans are even capable of, let alone responsible for, transporting the disease from one cave to the next. And if that turns out to be the case, Region 1 has already issued cave equipment decontamination orders to prevent the spread of the disease. Those conditions have been in effect since last fall, and seem like a sufficient response to a potential, but as yet unproven, threat to bats in the region. The closures, on the other hand, seem like an overreaching government solution to a problem that doesn't exist. The Forest Service could certainly be spending its time in more constructive ways - like taking public comment on the "emergency" closures, which are set to start May 1. The Forest Service should hear from the public about this, and the public should speak up, whether they are cavers or not. EDITORIAL BOARD: Publisher Stacey Mueller, Editor Sherry Devlin, Opinion Editor Tyler Christensen, Sales and Marketing Director Jim McGowan To comment on proposed cave closures, call Forest Service Region 1 threatened and endangered species program leader Kristi Swisher at (406) 329-3558 or send an email to [email protected]. _______________________________________________ SWR mailing list [email protected] http://caver.net/mailman/listinfo/swr_caver.net
