texascavers Digest 6 Jan 2011 21:21:15 -0000 Issue 1221
Topics (messages 16809 through 16823):
Re: Vietnam Cave
16809 by: Rod Goke
16813 by: David
Seeking correspondence with active caver, non NSS member
16810 by: Herman Miller
NCRC Level I Cave Rescue call in Colorado Bend State Park in February
16811 by: Geary Schindel
16816 by: Tim Stich
Re: Issues related to joining NSS
16812 by: David
Re: Irix headlamp review
16814 by: David
Re: some cavers in Puerto Rico
16815 by: David
Boquillas crossing reopening
16817 by: Ed Goff
16818 by: Fritz Holt
16819 by: Gill Edigar
16820 by: Fritz Holt
16821 by: Herman Miller
Re: Cross-border travel in the Big Bend.
16822 by: dirtdoc.comcast.net
16823 by: dirtdoc.comcast.net
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
--- Begin Message ---
Some of us armchair cavers are waiting for the day when we can fly through the
cave on that 747 they claim will fit inside the passage. ;-)
-----Original Message-----
>From: Mary Thiesse <[email protected]>
>Sent: Jan 5, 2011 10:18 AM
>To: David <[email protected]>, TexasCavers <[email protected]>
>Subject: Re: [Texascavers] Vietnam Cave
>
>>>>>>I don't know how many caver's feel they have ever "conquered" a cave,
>but this cave doesn't look
>all that complicated to conquer.
>
>Let me guess David
>
>1. Armchair caving has made you a bit overly cocky?
>
>2. You are trying to piss off those individuals that do expedition caving?
>
>3. 2011 is already turning out to be a bad year for you?
>
>4. ???
>
>MTZ
>
>
>
>
>________________________________
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
I feel an need to post a response to Mary's posting:
If I came across opinionated or cocky in my response to the article,
that was not the
intention.
Armchair caving is not the culprit, but living for years away from
caves can have
detrimental mental effects to a person who loves caves. I call it
speleodeprivation.
( maybe Don knows the correct word for this illness. ) Also, suffering from
Grumpy Old Man syndrome does not help.
I was referring only to the choice of wording of the author and have
great respect
for expedition cavers, and could use the word jealous that I wasn't part of it.
For example, if one bolt breaks, the belay system will catch the caver
and he will
not fall to his death, if he is caving properly. So calling me cocky
just because I am correct is not kosher. The hyped-up style of writing about
caving used to not be acceptable. I say it still is not.
As for my interest in National Geographic, I own every issue back to 1945 or
so, and quite a few back to the 1920's. I would love to work for National
Geographic. That would be an awesome job, if it paid enough to pay my
bills. I was in Copan in 1985 and a NG reporter was there and we had
dinner at the hotel, and he told me he explored once the cave under the
big pyramid at Teotihuacan ( or something to that effect ). I have been
interested in this magazine for over 33 years.
David Locklear
Grumpy old armchair caver
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Hello all,
I am seeking to establish email correspondence with those whom are active in
our community though whom have never thought of joining the National
Speleological Society (NSS). This is in support of a project I currently
have running and I would like to gather additional viewpoints as I finalize
my report on what has been gathered. This would be very low key and would
just consist of a couple of emails back and forth as I gather your
viewpoints on a number of NSS related subjects. Any and all assistance
would be greatly appreciated
Herman Miller
[email protected]
*There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted
armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.
*
*Ernest Hemingway*
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Folks,
I saw there is a Level I Cave Rescue Operations and Management Seminar that
will be held from February 5 to 13, 2011 at Colorado Bend State Park, Bend,
Texas. The NCRC courses are outstanding and also an excellent value.
Contact DJ Walker for more information at 512 751-6010
Geary
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
It is a great course and also a great place to do it.
On Wed, Jan 5, 2011 at 6:22 PM, Geary Schindel <[email protected]
> wrote:
> Folks,
>
>
>
> I saw there is a Level I Cave Rescue Operations and Management Seminar that
> will be held from February 5 to 13, 2011 at Colorado Bend State Park, Bend,
> Texas. The NCRC courses are outstanding and also an excellent value.
>
>
>
> Contact DJ Walker for more information at 512 751-6010
>
>
>
> Geary
>
>
>
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Certainly somebody has already written an article somewhere
concerning the pros and cons of joining the NSS and the benefits
of joining.
Below are just some opinions:
New cavers or cavers that are not very active, and who don't live in
karst areas with active organized
caving going on, are not going to be easily convinced to join the NSS.
I first heard about the NSS in 1984 when I was a sophomore in college,
living far
from karst in a grotto that was not actively caving.
The student grotto president passed out a recruiting brochure.
I wanted to join the NSS immediately upon seeing that, for no logical reason
other than to feel somehow connected to caving, but most of the
student cavers there
would not join.
Perks of joining:
I love the NSS and one of the best investments I ever made in life
was purchasing a life-membership.
The NSS conventions are fun, but you are not required to be a member to
attend. However, it would be more practical to join, if you do plan to attend
the convention.
Nearly everyone I have ever met thru the NSS was great,
and in almost all cases I only wished I could have developed better
friendships with them, instead
of the once-a-year hello-goodbye type relationship ( ask Don if there
is a word for that ? ).
I miss not seeing my NSS friends regularly, and I am sure there are
cavers who feel the
same way about other cavers they have met thru the NSS. That is
one of the reasons
I drove to and from northwestern Vermont from southeast Texas this past summer.
Reasons some may not join:
One thing that I see, is that there are so many caving organizations to join
or to somehow get involved in. For example, you could dedicate your life
to caving by just being really active in the AMCS or the CRF or the TCMA.
What I am saying is you don't have to be an NSS member to make a significant
contribution to caving.
Another thing is the competition from outside of caving. There may
be 1,000 or
so U.S. cavers who practically live underground and stay active in
various caving organizations
like the NSS, but the other 50,000 plus cavers have lives that
conflict with that.
For example, someone can love caves and cavers, but they can be so dedicated
to their job or family or to an ill relative, or they live far from
karst, etc, that trying
to be active in the NSS is not feasible.
The con's of joining:
Whenever you get sucked into a group,
the first thing they want is your blood. You will be asked to get
off your rear, and volunteer
for something, or you will be labeled, and the label will never wear off.
Eventually, they want your money, and if you don't give it, same as
above. Then there is the politics
and the getting along with other NSS members who have different
priorities. And then
you find that some people no matter how hard you try just can't be
pleased. And
then, you find that even though you dedicated your life to the NSS,
that it still wasn't
good enough. And eventually much of your efforts and dedication
becomes forgotten.
One thing that is changing the scenery is the on-line caver activity.
Why be an
NSS member when everything you need to know is already on-line? I
think the answer
to that is so other cavers will take you seriously. I don't know
which on-line forums
require NSS membership. Someone else can post that.
In summary: join the NSS. Here are just 2 of it's Facebook links:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=103541480620
http://www.facebook.com/pages/National-Speleological-Society/109564239062444?v=wall
David Locklear
NSS # 27639
P.S.
On a related note,
According to the NSS member's manual there are 50 to 100 cavers in my
region that are NSS members. I have tried to contact many of them over
the years and had almost zero response. Last year, I diligently
tried very hard to
contact all of them to invite them to the East Texas Caver's Cookout, but
none showed up, and only 3 or 4 even responded to my e-mail. Had this
been a caver gathering in a karst area with active grottos,
then the member's manual might have been more productive, however, I have
heard attendance is down at several of these types caver gatherings,
compared to the 80's.
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
My plan tonight was to write a nice review of my latest headlamp, but I got
distracted.
On Dec. 20th, I posted an article about the new Irix headlamp.
This is the follow-up to that.
The first thing that becomes obvious is the high price is partly for the
fancy packaging which you will need to destroy in order to get the
headlamp out, and if not careful, you could injure yourself.
The headlamp does not have a on-off button. Instead you turn a
plastic dial on top of the headlamp. This feels very awkward, and I
don't know if
it is something that you would eventually get used to.
Turning the dial dimly lights 4 small white LED's. The more you
turn the dial the brighter they get until eventually you have a usable amount
of light to negotiate a dark path. But if you keep dialing a larger brighter
LED kicks in, and it becomes brighter and brighter as you turn. I think
even the small LED's get brighter. The light pattern is great. But the
peak of 35 lumens is not going to be enough for large borehole passages.
The headpiece fits very loosely in the mount that it rotates in. I think it
needs to fit tighter for caving. It definitely has a flaw in that
there is not
any easy way to tie a string from the light to the headpiece, as it could
easily fall off and create a dangerous situation in a cave. The good news
there is that it is unlikely to break, as there is no hinge like on
almost all cheap
plastic headlamps.
I don't think this headlamp would be suitable for Honeycreek, but it should
handle most wet small caves. Should be ideal for something like Whirlpool.
I went hiking near my house tonight, and spotted a family of javelinas
in the woods with
it. So it is a practical light.
For the cost, there are better choices for primary light source. It
could be easily rigged
on the helmet near the primary light as a back-up light.
To me, if feels like a proto-type. The plastic feels cheap, but
claims to be a polymer
body. It is not obvious which end unscrews, to change the battery,
so you are likely
to break that trying to get the battery out.
For anyone needing a purple headlamp, this may be your best choice.
I plan to take mine back for a refund, if they will accept the torn package.
David Locklear
Ref:
http://www.backpacker.com/media/originals/Irix_445x260.jpg
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
http://www.cuevaspr.org/fepur.html
You may have to scroll down to see their e-mail addresses.
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Heard on NPR that the border crossing at Boquillas in Big Bend is to be
reopened. Brief article: http://bit.ly/h0F3ga
Ed
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
This can't be soon enough for the poor Mexican citizens that would like to buy
US staples. A supervised crossing is needed at Lajitas for the same purpose.
Dad
________________________________
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Goff
Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2011 8:36 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Texascavers] Boquillas crossing reopening
Heard on NPR that the border crossing at Boquillas in Big Bend is to be
reopened. Brief article: http://bit.ly/h0F3ga
Ed
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Hell, the Gerstacker Bridge at La Linda was closed due to DHS
paranoia. They wanted to tear it down. Fortunately better judgement
and common sense prevailed.
I've entered Texas from Chihuahua by fording the Rio Grande at Lajitas
at least 2wice returning from caving in Mexico. There was nobody there
to check us in. We tried to report our entry at the BP checkpoint near
Marathon but nobody was home there either.
The word is that the Boquillas Crossing would be for use by Park
people and other officials only, not us common citizens on tourist
trips.
The words "building a crossing" were used. That makes it sound like
they'd be putting in a bridge. It would be a long one. Right now
there's only a gravel bottomed ford--or, at least, was the last time I
was there.
www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com
--Ediger
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
The Mexican citizens living in the small villages across the river should be
allowed to cross from Candelaria and downstream to buy the necessities that are
more plentiful and convenient rather than making much longer trips on
questionable roads.
Fritz
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Gill
Edigar
Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2011 9:38 AM
To: Fritz Holt
Cc: Mandy Holt; Jenny Holt; [email protected]; Off-Topic Texas Cavers
Subject: Re: FW: [Texascavers] Boquillas crossing reopening
Hell, the Gerstacker Bridge at La Linda was closed due to DHS
paranoia. They wanted to tear it down. Fortunately better judgement
and common sense prevailed.
I've entered Texas from Chihuahua by fording the Rio Grande at Lajitas
at least 2wice returning from caving in Mexico. There was nobody there
to check us in. We tried to report our entry at the BP checkpoint near
Marathon but nobody was home there either.
The word is that the Boquillas Crossing would be for use by Park
people and other officials only, not us common citizens on tourist
trips.
The words "building a crossing" were used. That makes it sound like
they'd be putting in a bridge. It would be a long one. Right now
there's only a gravel bottomed ford--or, at least, was the last time I
was there.
www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com
--Ediger
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
If I may add my two cents and a bit of knowledge on the project I have also
been told this crossing will be reserved for Park Service use only.
Currently Mexican fire fighting teams are brought across the river several
times a year to fight and or prevent wildfires in SW parks, this is what I
believe this "POE" will be used for. At this time there are no plans on
building additional bridges in the big bend area. The existing bridge at La
Linda is heavily barricaded and there is damage present from the horrendous
flooding the river experienced a few years ago. An additional hindrance to
the re-opening of the La Linda Port of Entry is the fact that all
infrastructure has since been destroyed with the exception of the bridge of
course.
Herman Miller
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Cross-border travel (and ecological cooperation) in the Big Bend.
The cave-related excuse for this post is the desire to explore caves along the
border near Big Bend. Experience has shown that the best ones are on the
Mexican side.
Well, Gill, times have changed.
When I lived in Big Bend (1967-1984), I crossed the border in both directions
many, many times: La Linda bridge, Boquillas and Lajitas fords, and a number
of other places. In those days a US Citizen could legally enter the USA at
any time at any place in any way, the only requirement being that they "report
on a timely basis" that they had done so. That usually meant that after I got
home to Alpine I'd call the BP in Marfa and let them know what I had done. I
was supposed to call Customs, but quickly learned that the local officers did
not like me to do so as it was a nuisance. The BP had a dispatcher who would
answer the telephone. They probably felt the same way, but were more polite.
Most of them knew who I was.
A bit more historic info:
That was also the time they were just starting to get Viet Nam surplus sensing
devices, and I set off a lot traversing the canyons and trails near the Rio
Grande. I was in everybody's data base. Both my trucks, Tortuga I and
later, Tortuga II (which I got from Ken Laidlaw) were painted Forrest Service
Green, which was close enough to Choate Green to confuse a lot of people. The
fact that I monitored BP and other agency radios was also informative and
occasionally entertaining. (You could legally do that, too, as long as you
did not tell anyone else what you had heard while monitoring their
frequencies). We also had a Sheriff's Department radio in the truck so when
Rescue Squad business was about I could communicate with the dispatcher in
Alpine. The little Cessna I flew was similarly equipped, so I was pretty
aware of what was going on along the border.
The La Linda bridge was easy coming north, but was a hassle going south due
to the Mexican officers. The only reason the bridge existed was to truck
fluorspar out of Mexico to the broker on the railroad at Marathon, and the
Mexicans collected fees. They could not issue papers for Americans headed
south. I once got the Mexican papers at Del Rio (you could not get them at
Ojinaga - a different jurisdiction) and crossed legally into Mexico at La
Linda, but that was so difficult and fraught with so many problems that I never
tried it again. It was a lot more practical to cross at Del Rio or Presidio and
travel in Mexico, but getting to the southwest side of the Sierra del Carmen
(south of Boquillas) was not easy nor fast.
And, oh yes, driving from Boquillas to the La Linda bridge was (is?) an
adventure in itself! There is a significant limestone mountain range in the
way. I did find some small caves there, but there has been no serious search
for Big Ones that I know of.
Ron Ralph can tell you a great story about the time we drove north from
Monterrey and crossed into the US at La Linda after having been run down by
Operation Intercept funded heavily-armed Mexicans (supposedly Army) at a corral
in the middle of nowhere, about 40 km south of La Linda. Fortunately we had a
couple cases of Mexican beer, Mexican population planning posters from
Salvadore Contreras, and Ron's glib tong. He played the Spanish-speaking
student to my being the English-only innocent professor.
But back to the Big Bend border today. It's totally different. And it
seriously effects cross-border caving.
Visibly armed, young, well-paid (and usually very macho feeling) federal
officers are all over the place. A LOT of them. A very large operations
center has been built in Alpine and check stations are on the roads. If they
focused on traffic north out of the border zone, it would not be so bad. The
occasional commercial bad-guy smuggler should be stopped.
I consider myself reestablished and accepted again as a "local" in the
Terlingua area, and we all know who is who. The tourists are obvious. Even
more obvious are the Mexican nationals who are not local. The stand out like
a sore thumb.
The local families who have worked and lived for generations in the mutual
economic zone along the river have been torn apart - some are "legal" and some
are not. Economically, they are still badly needed, but most outside law does
not have a clue as to who is who. And they don't care.
Federal officers have completely disrupted centuries of culture in Big Bend and
hassled tourists to the point of making them fearful of even stepping on the
Mexican side of the Rio Grande in the middle of a canyon float trip. Truth
is, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo guaranteed free traffic across the Rio
Grande by citizens of both nations, and that treaty trumps any US laws and
Federal regulations. However, if you try to explain this to the (mostly
young) gun-carrying officers you are likely to find yourself with a heap of
problems.
The Big Bend is clearly rather different from the border in California and
Arizona. It is also certainly true that administrators in Washington are
fueled by electoral paranoia and the desire to apply their rules uniformly.
But it sure has screwed up the river communities in the Big Bend of Texas
without any obvious effect on terrorism or smuggling.
I began this post to elaborate on some local details, but after I started
writing Herman Miller tossed in his two cents. Thank you, Herman. The "Los
Diablos" - the crack fire-fighting team of Mexican nationals has indeed
always had a pass across the border but not always under very clear authority.
They are badly needed in the (both federal and state) parks to control the
wildfires. There is nothing close to equivalent, skilled, manpower in the Big
Bend north of the river.
You are not going to see in the near future tourists wading back and forth as
they used to, enjoying Mexican food and beer in Boquillas, and willing workers
coming north to help build in Terlingua. A truck full of Austin cavers, stuck
in a deep spot in the middle of Rio Grande at Boquillas, is into a lot more
trouble than in the past.
That said, there has been (and continues to be) serious talk about a new bridge
and a formal crossing at Lajitas (probably from the bluffs just west of
"town"). Cooperation for management of the parks, wildlife, and ecology on
both sides of the river, mostly by non-governmental agencies, is rather
significant and portends a lot for those of us interested in the natural
recourses, including caves.
For most of the last decade, the World Wildlife Fund, Big Bend National Park,
Comission Nacional de Areas Naturales Protegidas, Big Bend Ranch State Park,
and more than twenty other agencies, institutions, and organizations from both
sides of the border have been conducting a variety of activities. There are
many remarkable efforts that have gone forward without any State Department
involvement. Binational cooperation, the participation of divergent
disciplines, and the involvement of riverside human communities are key
ingredients to move forward and address conservation issues. People tend to
forget that man is the most important part of the ecology.
For those of you who might be interested, these efforts are summarized in a
recent, rather academic, book: Conservation of Shared Environments: Learning
from the United States and Mexico , Edited by Laura Lopez-Hoffman, Emily D.
McGovern, Robert G. Varady, and Karl W. Flessa, University of Arizona Press,
Tucson, 2009. Included in this book is a discussion of the 2005 REAL ID Act
which gave the U.S. Department of Homeland Security authority to wave laws as
necessary to hasten border wall and road construction, which have voided
long-established environmental regulations and agreements, and the 2006
enactment of the Secure Fence Act. In combination, these laws have resulted
in ecological degradation and the creation of new conflicts in the border
region.
I wrote a fairly lengthy review of this book last year:
http://www.cenizojournal.com/cenizo-2010-03.pdf
Cenizo is a free, quality quarterly publication focused on the Big Bend. My
review starts on page 22.
DirtDoc
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Cross-border travel (and ecological cooperation) in the Big Bend.
The cave-related excuse for this post is the desire to explore caves along the
border near Big Bend. Experience has shown that the best ones are on the
Mexican side.
Well, Gill, times have changed.
When I lived in Big Bend (1967-1984), I crossed the border in both directions
many, many times: La Linda bridge, Boquillas and Lajitas fords, and a number
of other places. In those days a US Citizen could legally enter the USA at
any time at any place in any way, the only requirement being that they "report
on a timely basis" that they had done so. That usually meant that after I got
home to Alpine I'd call the BP in Marfa and let them know what I had done. I
was supposed to call Customs, but quickly learned that the local officers did
not like me to do so as it was a nuisance. The BP had a dispatcher who would
answer the telephone. They probably felt the same way, but were more polite.
Most of them knew who I was.
A bit more historic info:
That was also the time they were just starting to get Viet Nam surplus sensing
devices, and I set off a lot traversing the canyons and trails near the Rio
Grande. I was in everybody's data base. Both my trucks, Tortuga I and
later, Tortuga II (which I got from Ken Laidlaw) were painted Forrest Service
Green, which was close enough to Choate Green to confuse a lot of people. The
fact that I monitored BP and other agency radios was also informative and
occasionally entertaining. (You could legally do that, too, as long as you
did not tell anyone else what you had heard while monitoring their
frequencies). We also had a Sheriff's Department radio in the truck so when
Rescue Squad business was about I could communicate with the dispatcher in
Alpine. The little Cessna I flew was similarly equipped, so I was pretty
aware of what was going on along the border.
The La Linda bridge was easy coming north, but was a hassle going south due
to the Mexican officers. The only reason the bridge existed was to truck
fluorspar out of Mexico to the broker on the railroad at Marathon, and the
Mexicans collected fees. They could not issue papers for Americans headed
south. I once got the Mexican papers at Del Rio (you could not get them at
Ojinaga - a different jurisdiction) and crossed legally into Mexico at La
Linda, but that was so difficult and fraught with so many problems that I never
tried it again. It was a lot more practical to cross at Del Rio or Presidio and
travel in Mexico, but getting to the southwest side of the Sierra del Carmen
(south of Boquillas) was not easy nor fast.
And, oh yes, driving from Boquillas to the La Linda bridge was (is?) an
adventure in itself! There is a significant limestone mountain range in the
way. I did find some small caves there, but there has been no serious search
for Big Ones that I know of.
Ron Ralph can tell you a great story about the time we drove north from
Monterrey and crossed into the US at La Linda after having been run down by
Operation Intercept funded heavily-armed Mexicans (supposedly Army) at a corral
in the middle of nowhere, about 40 km south of La Linda. Fortunately we had a
couple cases of Mexican beer, Mexican population planning posters from
Salvadore Contreras, and Ron's glib tong. He played the Spanish-speaking
student to my being the English-only innocent professor.
But back to the Big Bend border today. It's totally different. And it
seriously effects cross-border caving.
Visibly armed, young, well-paid (and usually very macho feeling) federal
officers are all over the place. A LOT of them. A very large operations
center has been built in Alpine and check stations are on the roads. If they
focused on traffic north out of the border zone, it would not be so bad. The
occasional commercial bad-guy smuggler should be stopped.
I consider myself reestablished and accepted again as a "local" in the
Terlingua area, and we all know who is who. The tourists are obvious. Even
more obvious are the Mexican nationals who are not local. The stand out like
a sore thumb.
The local families who have worked and lived for generations in the mutual
economic zone along the river have been torn apart - some are "legal" and some
are not. Economically, they are still badly needed, but most outside law does
not have a clue as to who is who. And they don't care.
Federal officers have completely disrupted centuries of culture in Big Bend and
hassled tourists to the point of making them fearful of even stepping on the
Mexican side of the Rio Grande in the middle of a canyon float trip. Truth
is, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo guaranteed free traffic across the Rio
Grande by citizens of both nations, and that treaty trumps any US laws and
Federal regulations. However, if you try to explain this to the (mostly
young) gun-carrying officers you are likely to find yourself with a heap of
problems.
The Big Bend is clearly rather different from the border in California and
Arizona. It is also certainly true that administrators in Washington are
fueled by electoral paranoia and the desire to apply their rules uniformly.
But it sure has screwed up the river communities in the Big Bend of Texas
without any obvious effect on terrorism or smuggling.
I began this post to elaborate on some local details, but after I started
writing Herman Miller tossed in his two cents. Thank you, Herman. The "Los
Diablos" - the crack fire-fighting team of Mexican nationals has indeed
always had a pass across the border but not always under very clear authority.
They are badly needed in the (both federal and state) parks to control the
wildfires. There is nothing close to equivalent, skilled, manpower in the Big
Bend north of the river.
You are not going to see in the near future tourists wading back and forth as
they used to, enjoying Mexican food and beer in Boquillas, and willing workers
coming north to help build in Terlingua. A truck full of Austin cavers, stuck
in a deep spot in the middle of Rio Grande at Boquillas, is into a lot more
trouble than in the past.
That said, there has been (and continues to be) serious talk about a new bridge
and a formal crossing at Lajitas (probably from the bluffs just west of
"town"). Cooperation for management of the parks, wildlife, and ecology on
both sides of the river, mostly by non-governmental agencies, is rather
significant and portends a lot for those of us interested in the natural
recourses, including caves.
For most of the last decade, the World Wildlife Fund, Big Bend National Park,
Comission Nacional de Areas Naturales Protegidas, Big Bend Ranch State Park,
and more than twenty other agencies, institutions, and organizations from both
sides of the border have been conducting a variety of activities. There are
many remarkable efforts that have gone forward without any State Department
involvement. Binational cooperation, the participation of divergent
disciplines, and the involvement of riverside human communities are key
ingredients to move forward and address conservation issues. People tend to
forget that man is the most important part of the ecology.
For those of you who might be interested, these efforts are summarized in a
recent, rather academic, book: Conservation of Shared Environments: Learning
from the United States and Mexico , Edited by Laura Lopez-Hoffman, Emily D.
McGovern, Robert G. Varady, and Karl W. Flessa, University of Arizona Press,
Tucson, 2009. Included in this book is a discussion of the 2005 REAL ID Act
which gave the U.S. Department of Homeland Security authority to wave laws as
necessary to hasten border wall and road construction, which have voided
long-established environmental regulations and agreements, and the 2006
enactment of the Secure Fence Act. In combination, these laws have resulted
in ecological degradation and the creation of new conflicts in the border
region.
I wrote a fairly lengthy review of this book last year:
http://www.cenizojournal.com/cenizo-2010-03.pdf
Cenizo is a free, quality quarterly publication focused on the Big Bend. My
review starts on page 22.
DirtDoc
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