CBD challenges BLM permit for Colorado NSS Convention

This is a forum intended only for discussion of White Nose Syndrome.

Moderator: Moderators

CBD challenges BLM permit for Colorado NSS Convention

Postby NZcaver » Jul 6, 2011 4:59 pm

For Immediate Release, July 6, 2011
Contact: Mollie Matteson, (802) 318-1487

Lawsuit Filed to Help Stop Spread of Bat-killing Disease to Colorado, West
BLM Permit for National Cave Convention in Colorado Risks Spread of Deadly White-nose Syndrome

WASHINGTON— The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit today challenging the Bureau of Land Management’s issuance of a “special recreation permit” to the National Speleological Society, which is holding its annual convention in Glenwood Springs, Colo., later this month. The permit allows the group to guide trips into two caves in northwest Colorado: Anvil Points and LaSunder. The permit was issued over the objections of Colorado Division of Wildlife officials who expressed concern about the risk of spreading white-nose syndrome, a new, highly fatal bat disease that has spread across nearly half the country and killed more than a million bats.

“The BLM is ignoring Colorado’s own state biologists and risking further spread of one of the worst wildlife diseases in modern times,” said Mollie Matteson, a conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, which has petitioned to prohibit all-but-essential human travel into bat caves to stem the spread of the disease. “North America’s bats are too important to risk spreading white-nose syndrome for purely recreational purposes. Until we know more about this deadly epidemic, people need to stay out of caves with bats.”

In an April 18, 2011, letter to the BLM, state bat biologists specifically recommended that the two caves not be “permitted for use” based on concerns about the spread of white-nose syndrome. They expressed additional concern about the BLM’s consideration of instituting only seasonal closures for caves in Colorado, stating that, “[b]ased on the current knowledge of this disease and how it persists in the environment, seasonal closures could leave priority sites vulnerable to introduction and spread of the fungus” and advising that the BLM in Colorado take an approach similar to that taken by the BLM in New Mexico, which issued year-round closures for a number of important bat caves.

“Stemming the spread of this deadly, fast-moving disease requires widespread, precautionary measures to keep it from killing bats on a larger scale,” said Matteson. “The BLM’s failure to close caves is putting bats in Colorado and the West at risk.”

It is well documented that the fungus believed to cause white-nose syndrome, aptly named Geomyces destructans, can be spread on the clothes and gear of people visiting caves. Scientists strongly suspect that the disease is a recent import from Europe, likely transported by someone who visited a cave there and then came to North America.

At a recent congressional hearing, Dr. Justin Boyles of the University of Tennessee, a bat biologist and white-nose syndrome researcher, testified that cave-closure policies for white-nose syndrome were “warranted and prudent” and that human-facilitated movement of the disease could be “disproportionately devastating” to bat populations because of the possibility of long-distance jumps into new regions, creating new disease epicenters.

Unlike the BLM, the Rocky Mountain region of the U.S. Forest Service has closed all caves and instead granted cavers attending the national convention in Colorado special access only to caves where bats were believed absent. The Forest Service also stipulated strict decontamination procedures and caving-gear restrictions to minimize risk that the fungus deadly to bats would be accidentally introduced from infected regions. State bat biologists with the Colorado Division of Wildlife agreed with Forest Service staff that the national forest caves selected for convention trips hold very few or no bats and were at low risk for disease spread.

The BLM permit finalized last week also requires decontamination and gear restrictions, but state biologists thought the sites chosen were not appropriate due to documented use by bats, including the Townsend’s big-eared bat, a Colorado species of special concern. The BLM has not instituted any other precautionary cave closures for white-nose syndrome in the state.

“White-nose syndrome has devastated bat populations in eastern North America, and western land managers have a unique opportunity to stop this disease from getting a foothold. There is no excuse for not taking the most cautious approach possible, as soon as possible,” Matteson said.


Press Release
User avatar
NZcaver
Global Moderator
 
Posts: 6367
Joined: Sep 7, 2005 2:05 am
Location: Anchorage, Alaska
Name: Jansen
NSS #: 50665RL
  

Re: CBD challenges BLM permit for Colorado NSS Convention

Postby MUD » Jul 6, 2011 5:05 pm

I guess the NSS is next to get sued? :laughing: Hey, maybe the CBD will get a new office/library/museum/sue center out of it!
MUD
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 1242
Joined: Mar 15, 2006 11:28 pm
Primary Grotto Affiliation: None
  

Re: CBD challenges BLM permit for Colorado NSS Convention

Postby Chads93GT » Jul 6, 2011 5:15 pm

It's well documented that we spread the fungus on clothes............... really? source?
User avatar
Chads93GT
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 2294
Joined: Jun 24, 2008 1:27 pm
Location: Missouri
  

Re: CBD challenges BLM permit for Colorado NSS Convention

Postby Squirrel Girl » Jul 6, 2011 5:25 pm

I am more equivocal than most here on whether people spread the fungus, but this statement does sound a little whacky:

It is well documented that the fungus believed to cause white-nose syndrome


If it's well documented, then there isn't any "believed" business needed. If it were well documented, then it would be known.
Barbara Anne am Ende

"Weird people are my people."
User avatar
Squirrel Girl
Global Moderator
 
Posts: 3198
Joined: Sep 5, 2005 5:34 am
Location: Albuquerque, NM
NSS #: 15789
  

Re: CBD challenges BLM permit for Colorado NSS Convention

Postby boogercaver71 » Jul 6, 2011 5:57 pm

Chads93GT wrote:It's well documented that we spread the fungus on clothes............... really? source?


They don't need sources in a law suit, just conjecture and innuendo.
User avatar
boogercaver71
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 307
Joined: Aug 18, 2007 3:24 pm
Location: SW Missouri
NSS #: 19471
  

Re: CBD challenges BLM permit for Colorado NSS Convention

Postby PYoungbaer » Jul 6, 2011 7:26 pm

This is pathetic. As others have pointed out earlier in the thread, the statement,
"It is well documented that the fungus believed to cause white-nose syndrome, aptly named Geomyces destructans, can be spread on the clothes and gear of people visiting caves."
is typical CBD hyperbole.

But this is clearly an attack on the NSS. The BLM has not closed any of its caves in Colorado at this point. The permit is only required because there are guides. The general public can go caving without guides and without a permit. They have no requirements for decon, etc., but the NSS does. Seems to be an ill-targeted lawsuit, but that doesn't seem to be a consideration for CBD.
PYoungbaer
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 1365
Joined: Apr 30, 2008 4:04 pm
Location: Plainfield, VT
NSS #: 16161 CM FE
Primary Grotto Affiliation: Vermont Cavers Association
  

Re: CBD challenges BLM permit for Colorado NSS Convention

Postby BrianC » Jul 6, 2011 8:04 pm

PYoungbaer wrote:This is pathetic. As others have pointed out earlier in the thread, the statement,
"It is well documented that the fungus believed to cause white-nose syndrome, aptly named Geomyces destructans, can be spread on the clothes and gear of people visiting caves."
is typical CBD hyperbole.

But this is clearly an attack on the NSS. The BLM has not closed any of its caves in Colorado at this point. The permit is only required because there are guides. The general public can go caving without guides and without a permit. They have no requirements for decon, etc., but the NSS does. Seems to be an ill-targeted lawsuit, but that doesn't seem to be a consideration for CBD.

There could also be a conflict of interest if any member of the NSS is also a member of any of the CBD's groups (tree huggers etc.) only though if the NSS retaliates which is what the CBD is obviously looking for.
User avatar
BrianC
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 2061
Joined: Oct 2, 2006 2:34 pm
Location: up on this here mountain
  

Re: CBD challenges BLM permit for Colorado NSS Convention

Postby Chads93GT » Jul 6, 2011 8:30 pm

Aren't we all tree huggers? Thats kind of a blanket statement.
User avatar
Chads93GT
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 2294
Joined: Jun 24, 2008 1:27 pm
Location: Missouri
  

Re: CBD challenges BLM permit for Colorado NSS Convention

Postby wyandottecaver » Jul 6, 2011 8:40 pm

Interesting. So as long as I dont register for Convention I can cave freely on BLM lands? Or do I have to leave the NSS too :big grin: Many agencies require permits for "special events", so thats not unusual.
I'm not scared of the dark, it's the things IN the dark that make me nervous. :)
User avatar
wyandottecaver
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 2902
Joined: Aug 24, 2007 8:44 pm
Location: Indiana
  

Re: CBD challenges BLM permit for Colorado NSS Convention

Postby rlboyce » Jul 6, 2011 9:25 pm

LOL, "tree huggers"... I'm expecting a few retorts on that one.
Happiness can be measured in mud/in².
User avatar
rlboyce
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 727
Joined: Jan 22, 2010 7:26 pm
Location: Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
Name: Ryan Boyce
  

Re: CBD challenges BLM permit for Colorado NSS Convention

Postby NZcaver » Jul 6, 2011 9:47 pm

Yeah, seems like they are really reaching deep into the BS jar with this one.

BrianC wrote:There could also be a conflict of interest if any member of the NSS is also a member of any of the CBD's groups (tree huggers etc.) only though if the NSS retaliates which is what the CBD is obviously looking for.

Not quite sure what you mean about conflicts of interest, but I know a couple of NSS members who admit to being former CBD supporters. I suspect there are some who are current supporters too. We do have some vocal "stop caving" opinions among a few caver/ex-caver NSS members. I also know one caver who actually works for the CBD, but this person is a regular employee not an agitator.
User avatar
NZcaver
Global Moderator
 
Posts: 6367
Joined: Sep 7, 2005 2:05 am
Location: Anchorage, Alaska
Name: Jansen
NSS #: 50665RL
  

Re: CBD challenges BLM permit for Colorado NSS Convention

Postby hewhocaves » Jul 6, 2011 10:30 pm

Chads93GT wrote:Aren't we all tree huggers? Thats kind of a blanket statement.


I'm not that touchy-feely... I'm more of a "tree-firm-hanshaker". :tonguecheek:

But ooh.... time to go toss another rant onto the CBD's Facebook page! :big grin:
The NSS and WNS: Cooperation, not confrontation.
User avatar
hewhocaves
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 716
Joined: Sep 5, 2005 9:43 pm
Location: Morgantown WV
Name: John Tudek
NSS #: 36021
Primary Grotto Affiliation: MonGrotto
  

Re: CBD challenges BLM permit for Colorado NSS Convention

Postby PYoungbaer » Jul 6, 2011 10:50 pm

Actually, Mollie Matteson is an NSS member (62331RE)- check your 2010 Members Manual, page 129. Wasn't in the 2009 edition. Guess she sees all our secrets. :shhh: She did turn down a direct invitation to attend the Vermont Convention last year, even though she lives just minutes from the site. Guess ignorance is bliss.
PYoungbaer
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 1365
Joined: Apr 30, 2008 4:04 pm
Location: Plainfield, VT
NSS #: 16161 CM FE
Primary Grotto Affiliation: Vermont Cavers Association
  

Re: CBD challenges BLM permit for Colorado NSS Convention

Postby Teresa » Jul 6, 2011 10:55 pm

Why is it that the CBD wants us to cave naked? I really really don't understand this....
This is why radical enviros like the CBD make me want to retch. They just seem to live on another planet.

"I like bats. I like caving. And I vote."
Teresa
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 1413
Joined: Dec 31, 2005 9:06 pm
  

Re: CBD challenges BLM permit for Colorado NSS Convention

Postby BrianC » Jul 7, 2011 6:53 am

Chads93GT wrote:Aren't we all tree huggers? Thats kind of a blanket statement.

Actually "Tree Huggers" is the name of one of their affiliation groups. Many groups that the CBD is directly involved with with many names that are a direct result of their far reaching efforts.
User avatar
BrianC
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 2061
Joined: Oct 2, 2006 2:34 pm
Location: up on this here mountain
  

Next

Return to White Nose Syndrome (WNS)

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users