by wyandottecaver » Aug 26, 2009 8:21 pm
IMHO people have a tendency to base gates on what they want to protect against vs what they want to protect.
They say that they need to prevent disturbance, vandalisim, tresspass, formation breakage, ect. But what are they protecting?
In reality very very few caves contain ANYTHING that isnt commonly found elsewhere. Vandals trash a sacrificial cave...ok...but what do you actually "save" by excluding the good and bad alike? usually nothing that you cant find within an hour drive. (or 30 minute walk) Those caves that do contain uncommon features or populations aren't usually subject to repeated and/or demonstrated threats. Caves with a truly unique resource probably should be gated after examination of other impacts...caves with truly unique resources are rare. a small population of endangered bats or a few unique invertebrates doesn't qualify to me based on the big picture. Lech, the mexican crystal cave, a few caves that contain a large percentage of a total bat species, a few caves that contain dozens of rare species, yes those are unique resources.
Of course private folks often want gates but we should discourage that when possible without offending the owner. I also don't see a problem with intelligent, temporary gates erected during survey of a new find. The emphasis being on intelligent and temporary.
One analogy I see is Government owned land. Most people agree that Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon are best owned by the government. But do they really need 84.5% of Nevada? We do need some cave gates...but not many.
I'm not scared of the dark, it's the things IN the dark that make me nervous. :)