Cavers - We are excited to announce that Texas Cave Management Association (TCMA) and the owners of Honey Creek Springs Ranch (private property) have negotiated a formal access and monitoring agreement for Honey Creek Cave, the longest cave in Texas.
Honey Creek Cave is a water cave with more than 21 miles of surveyed passage, often described as an underground river, and the resurgence serves as the headwaters for the flowing section of Honey Creek. This surface stream is known for its superior water quality and unique ecosystem. Honey Creek (surface stream) is surrounded almost in its entirety by Honey Creek State Natural Area, a unit of TPWD. TCMA and our members will have four trips a year for scientific, exploration (survey), and limited recreational access. In return, we will formalize our monitoring efforts on water quality, cave biota and the overall impacts the cave is experiencing. The surrounding area is experiencing an explosion of property development and faces significant risks from water pumping, waste water discharge, aggregate mining, and general impacts from increased human activity. Kurt Menking will serve as our inaugural project manager. Bill Steele will lead the renewed survey efforts. They have a combined experience of nearly 80 years with the cave. Many thanks to the owners of Honey Creek, Kurt Menking, Bill Steele, Andy Gluesenkamp, Greg Mosier, Ellie Thoene, Linda Palit and many others for their hard work maintaining land owner relationships these past many years. We are currently working with key folks to establish our trip schedule, access guidelines, monitoring protocols etc. Stay tuned for more information on how you can help TCMA fulfill our mission and visit Honey Creek Cave. For membership information please visit our website. For questions please contact i...@tcmacaves.org. Joe Ranzau President | Texas Cave Management Association www.tcmacaves.org 210.289.6839 Permission is granted to distribute this announcement. _______________________________________________ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers