Hi all,
Here is the latest information that I have on the status of the two cave
poisitions in the Lincoln National Forest (LNF).
Cave Technician GS 5/7/9 They have finally completed the rewrite of the SKE
portion of the job discription and the position will be advertised toward the
end of this month with a goal of having someone hired and in place by Early
April of this year. This individual will be didicated full time to caving
related efforts. The rewrite efforts were to insure that the selected
individual has caving experieince and knowledge. This person will be assigned
t the Guadalupe District office in Carlsbad. This will be the first time in
eight years that the Forest Service has had a full time "cave" position in the
LNF.
Regional Cave Specialist GS7/9/11 This position has been put on hold for
financial reasons. With the loss of Jacque Buchanan to push for this position
there is probably little chance that it will ever be filled. Region Three
management is skeptical of the requirements for cave related positions to start
with and the current budgetary "crisis" is a handy excuse not to fill the
position. There was also some disagreement on where the position should be
located; Carlsbad or another location.
Other developments:
The agreement between the SWR and the LNF to conduct monitoring trips to the
various caves has been finalized and is ready for signature. That means that
we can soon move on to the planning phase of which caves need effrorts and what
the efforts will be for each cave. Once we have a plan, I will be sending out
notices requesting volunteers (from the list) to perform the trips and perform
the needed activities. The initial trips wil probably be bat related, but the
plans are still to be formulated.
Region Three of the FS has not, as of yesterday, come up with a plan for
dealing with caves, cave closings, etc related to WNS. While the local office
had told me that they would be closing three caves due to bats and WNS (fears)
they have not yet done so. The caves that they had planned to close were
Cottonwood, Hidden and Sentinel. However, because they have not recieved any
directive from Region Three the caves remain open and they will not be opening
any other caves for recreational caving until they have clarification where
Region Three management is going. I had been told that Region Three was going
to leave the cave closure determinations up to the local districts, but
apparently the local districts have not been informed of that. The biggest
problem that I foresee is that, if, or I should say when, the first bat with
anything that looks like WNS is found in NM, they may close everything as a
knee jerk reaction. A single bat in Oklahoma caused an incredible
over-reaction last year in areas to the north and west of there.
As I learn of new developments I will attempt to keep you informed.
Ken
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass - It's about dancing in the
rain.
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