Letter to Congress and Sentor and Gov of PA

I am writing to you about the cave closures on public land the USFWS caving moratorium and why I don't think it's accomplishing what it's intending to do.
A blanket closure of all caves is overboard. It is reasonable to close known bat hibernaculum, but not all caves have bats and most caves are not bat hibernaculum. I'm asking you to persuade the USFWS and government land management to not close non-bat hibernaculumm caves when bats are not in hibernation and caves without bats year round. Most caves have few or no bats and that is why all caves do not need to be closed. While it has been proven that WNS is following known bat migrations, there is a lack of proof that cavers are spreading WNS.
Another issue is that while organized cavers are observing the moratorium, spelunkers and vandals are not. There has been a rise in vandalism in caves and I attribute this to the lack of our “neighborhood cave watch” which tends to keep them out. Organized cavers are conservation minded. But not all who enter caves are cavers nor with good intentions for the biology and geology of the caves.

As a volunteer and at my own expense I have been striving to put together a youth caving program in my area for several years. 2008 was the best year yet. Several volunteers and I took approximately 80 youths and their adult leaders underground and introduced them to caves and their unique environment. Because of those we took underground I was able to be invited to do “cave talks” to their groups. Here I was able to personally talk to 250 people about this subject over the 2008 year. Even if they never went underground they had a very good idea what it was really about and a better understanding of the importance to preserve and take care of caves. At the end of 2008 my hope and goal was to double that for 2009 and reach 500 youth and their leaders to educate them.
With the influx of WNS into Pennsylvania and the caving moratorium I had to tell all the groups that I had promised for the year 2009 that we would not be going underground until the moratorium was lifted. As a result I have not been able to secure any interest in “cave talks”. Here, one year later, I have reached no youth and their adult leaders. No one has learned from me the importance of caves. No one has learned from me about how important bats are and what they do for us. I have no audience to talk about the importance for WNS research.
The caves we have used for youth group education have no significant bat population. Any caves that do have a significant bat population can be easily avoided and a small handful of local caves in the same region can be used. This would limit the number of caves the guides are exposed too. Along with the recommended decontamination protocols we can still effectively educate many youth. Most of the youth and leaders we take caving have never been in a cave before, and if they go again it won’t be for a year or more if they are lucky. So the argument of cross contamination by them just doesn’t seem valid.
For those that say that at least we are not killing bats, I insist that we still are. Without a reasonable voluntary education program in place bats will continue to be misunderstood and not valued for their position in our ecosystem and economy. The general population will continue to see them as a flying pest to be feared and exterminated. Or at the very least not valued enough to spend money to find out how to cure WNS.
I hope I have convinced you that closing all caves to cavers is not good for all caves or their inhabitants. Please talk to the USFWS to change their recommendation of a blanket cave closure and moratorium.

Thank you,

Allen Maddox
National Speleological Society Youth Group Liaison Committee, Chair
Philadelphia Grotto, Youth Group Liaison
Dragon Breath Grotto Venturing Crew 9, Advisor