Perhaps we are going about this all wrong. Maybe it is time that
we, (the NSS) took the feds to court and demanded
our rights to access to
public land. The fact is, the feds have already closed caves on most federally owned land in the east, just on the off chance that these caves
might have some bats in them. This whole idea is ludicrous; to close an entire habitat to humans just because a specie or species
might reside there, and because we
might be transporting WNS on our gear or clothing, which
might be transferred to the cave and/or the bats that
might be living in said cave...well, you get the idea: altogether too many "mights” and not enough (if any) proven facts. I think we can concede to close caves that are known and established bat caves; this would require determining reasonable criteria to define exactly what a "bat cave" is. The burden of proof should be on the CBD and or the feds or whichever government agency to have to prove that a cave is a bat habitat. Otherwise, we, as members of the public, should have a right to enjoy publically owned resources.
I don't know if such a lawsuit is even within the scope or rights of an organization like the NSS, being that we are considered a "scientific organization." I know that we don't officially have any lawyers on staff, but I am sure there are many amongst our membership who could volunteer some time and effort for such a cause. Otherwise, we face the prospect of more and more cave closures on both federal and state-owned land. While the feds may fight this CBD lawsuit, there is a possibility that they will just go along with them so as to avoid the expense and hassle of a long legal battle. Besides that, they (the feds) have already shown here in the east that they agree with the closure policy, so there is no reason to believe that they will not extend it to the western states as well.
Trogman