The last sentence of this post sounds very unfair, although I doubt it was meant to. I care deeply about the outcome and spread of this disease as do most if not all cavers. I also care about the integrity of the gear that I use. As long as decon only requires washing with detergent and water, something I've been doing long before this outbreak, then I have no problem. But when "experts" admit they are guessing about proper procedures, and those procedures are probably destructive, then I reserve the right to disagree. In the first paragraph you ask if decon is important. The correct answer is, "Maybe!" We still do not know if the fungus is the killer or if it is can it kill without something else being present.
My statement was not meant to be derogatory or disrespectful to anyone, so my apologies. I am simply asking my fellow cavers to use their common sense when decontamination their gear. Whether you use bleach or not is up to you. However, PMI's official statement on the use of bleach is that "a mixture of 1 part household bleach (with active ingredient of Sodium hypochlorite at 5.25% concentration) with 9 parts room temperature tap water and a 10min or less exposure time, immediately followed by a thorough rinse of room temperature water will not cause any appreciable harm to nylon or polyester ropes.*
So the argument that bleach causes irreparable damage to ropes and gear is simply not true. Even if you don't follow the recommendation by PMI, utilizing your common sense in thoroughly cleaning your gear in between cave trips is a good start - but taking no action at all is simply irresponsible. There was a post on TAG-NET tonight from Lin Guy that states "Larry Matthews summed up WNS and the suggested response perfectly. It is a desperate attempt to get us to do something that will result in nothing. The trouble is we'll have to do it in order to later avoid blame and being ostracized for being part, if not the cause, of the problem. I whole heartedly agree with this statement. The problem with people and government is being reactive rather than proactive.
I do understand that you, as well as many other cavers around the country, deeply care about the spread of this disease and will take whatever action necessary to stem its spread just as I will. There is still so much to learn about WNS and whether it, or something else, is the pathogen. However, I strongly feel that until we understand the breadth and cause of this disease we should do all we can to follow the procedures of the NSS, USFWS, Cave Conservancies, BCI, etc.
As far as the moratorium goes, if it's imposed in Arkansas I'll honor it. No problem there. My big issues with this whole C.F. is that professionals were still handling infected bats bare handed as recently as two months ago and some probably still do, yet they are calling for us to follow decon procedures after being in caves that do not even have bats. They still have no idea what is killing bats but they want to close all caves whether bats are present or not. Little browns and Indiana bats both form nursery colonies beneath loose bark yet I've not heard a call to close the forests to hikers, bikers, horse riders and hunters. Are cavers more likely to affect the bats than other groups? Yep. But only in bat caves. Does that mean that the others have zero responsibility. Nope. Whatever it is could be coming into the caves with the bats from the great outdoors.
I agree with your frustrations that the finger pointing seems to be at the cavers and not pointed at all the other entities who could also be suspect. This is where educating the public at large about this disease should be our highest priority as professionals. If the bat biologists are being irresponsible by handling bats without proper protection, then we should stand up hold them accountable as well. This might be a better question for Peter Yongbear to answer. As far as the moratorium on caving even if those caves don't have bats, I can say that in my experience, every cave (horizontal and vertical) that I have been in in TAG has bats, even if it is just one or two. Even some of the more sacrificial/commercial caves, such as Tumbling Rock or Mammoth Cave has a few bats. It is therefore still possible to spread this disease. It should also be noted that WNS is not likely to show up again until next the hibernation season and therefore we will not know the extent of its spread into TAG until then. So we must work together to do all we can.
I admire your concern and I suspect if more cavers cared as much as you do then some mistakes from the past could have been avoided. I also worry that you may unknowingly expose yourself and others to danger by using the wrong disinfectants on your gear. Some lysols contain phenols that can damage synthetics. Remember too that any antibacterial is designed to destroy life and many have the potential to harm humans if used improperly. If you don't rinse the lysol from your gear you may be destroying native microbial communities in the cave with your decon procedures. I also was taught that heat is an enemy of nylon but I don't know if domestic water heaters, normally set around 130F-180F are warm enough to cause damage.
I appreciate your kind words and also appreciate that you care about this horrible affliction as well. I deeply love our bat communities and respect their importance to our eco-systems. If the bats continue to die, there will be major consequences to humans. Without bats to eat the insects, they will destroy our crops resulting in higher food prices and most certainly we will see an increase in bird flu, which will result in a higher number of human deaths. I understand your hesitancy's in using lysol products and I agree that a secondary rinse after its use is warranted.
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