Colorado Cave Survey: 31 January 2005 The 31 January 2005 meeting of the Colorado Cave Survey was held at Bruce Albright's home in Denver, Colorado. The meeting was very well attended, with representatives present from all Colorado Grottos, as well as a number of additional cavers. The following are notes which I recorded during the meeting; please contact me if you have any corrections - Stuart Marlatt. o White River National Forest Timber Sale The White River National Forest has announced plans to conduct a large timber harvest in the Meadow Lake area, generally north of Clinetop Mesa. The sale is to be the most ambitious harvest since the late 1970s, with an estimated removal of 2.9 million board-feet, approximately doubling the current cutting on all the White River. Current plans are for the timber removal to begin this summer. - It was noted that the Cave Survey took a non-confrontation approach to the proposed Lime Creek sale in the 1990s. Rather than simply opposing any harvest, the CCS approached the USFS with specific concerns regarding possible impacts to the Lime Creek caves/karst. This turned out to be a very successful approach; the USFS were receptive to our concerns and worked directly with CCS representatives to adjust cutting plans to minimize impacts to caves and karst. (As it happened, the Lime Creek sale never was realized). - Initial reports indicated that the USFS had stated that there was "no significant kart" in this area. This is clearly incorrect. In particular, much (all?) of this region is part of the Spring Cave watershed. Additionally, there are a number of known caves in the area, including Summer’s End. Mike Zawada is expected to have an article out later this year describing the region. - It was observed that most of the standing timber in this area is not directly over the karst, but lies along the quartzite ridges. Timber harvesting, however, could impact the karst via road construction, slash dumping, changes in drainage, etc. - The timber harvest is to include the construction of seven miles of new road and 16 miles of rebuilt roads. This could have a very serious impact, as this would open up this relatively inaccessible area to substantially increased visitation. - At this point, there are a large number of unknowns, and the Survey resolved to continue to fact-finding prior to taking Action. o Groaning Cave / Waivers and Combination Coordinator Bruce Albright has served as the combination coordinator for Groaning Cave for several years, and announced that he will be stepping down from that position this year. After some discussion regarding the duties of the coordinator, both Ed Larock and ??? expressed interest in taking over this responsibility. There was also a discussion of the status of the Groaning Cave waiver list, and whether or not it should be purged of obsolete names. No agreement was reached on whether any wholesale cleaning should be done, but it was agreed that obviously defunct names (such as those of deceased people) should be removed. The status of the physical copies of the waivers was also discussed: Bruce has approximately 500, the White River National Forest has “some,” and the location of others remains unknown. The electronic database is up-to-date, however (and is currently in MS Word). o Lasunder Cave Kay Hopkins (BLM) has requested that a trip to the cave be undertaken to remove several bags of cement left over from the gate installation. Donald Davis and some Grand Junction cavers will try and get up there in mid-February. Interest was expressed by others to accompany them. O Colorado Cave Survey Database Stuart Marlatt proposed that the CCS create a database of cave survey information: basically, a central repository of what survey has been done, in what caves, by what cavers. This database is not intended to include precise cave locations, nor is the CCS asking for copies of survey data. The intent was simply to provide the the caving community a means of finding out who might be involved in a given cave. Following discussion, the proposal was accepted. Stuart is to create the database and begin to gather information. Rick Rhinehart suggested that the CCS also begin a cave-ownership Database. This was also approved and Rick will begin work. O Etc. - Donald Davis, Fred Luizer and Rick Rhinehart reported on a lead near Royal Gorge. Apparently a CJ’s Cavern-type cave, not in limestone but well decorated. They are following reports from 1911 newspaper articles. - Ed Larock is working on access to Table Mountain Cave near Cheyenne. - Porcupine Cave is open, but the owner has requested that access be made from below rather than crossing through the subdivision. O Elections Carl Bern was elected CCS Chair for 2005. o Next Meeting The next meeting will be held in May, in Glenwood Springs.