Sequoia and Kings Canyon Cave Management Update
Volume 3 June, 1997 Ash Mountain, Sequoia National Park Three Rivers, CA 93271 (209) 556-3717 Number 1
What is this? This publication has been created to foster communication between the Park Cave Management Program and the caving community, with a particular focus on cavers active as volunteers within the Parks. The Update will also be disseminated to other Parks with cave management programs and electronically to Sequoia and Kings Canyon Park Staff who might be interested in Cave Management. In general the contents will include updates on cave management projects, initiatives, and events. We hope to publish twice per year, fall and spring. This material is specifically not copyrighted, is public property, and may be reproduced. Grotto newsletter editors, copy to your hearts' content.
Administration Happenings for 1997 Assistant Cave Specialist: Greg Stock will be returning for his third season as the Assistant Cave Specialist for the Parks. Greg will work a much longer season this year. He begins work on July 6 and will be in the Parks until at least October 1. Greg graduated with a BS in Geology from Humboldt State last month. However, he is still working on his senior thesis, which involves dating cave sediments from the Windy Cliffs area of Kings Canyon. Summer Office Plans: This year time has been set aside to better organize the data, information, publications, equipment, and photos that seem to multiply like rabbits in the cave management office. We also are planning to organize the visitation records for Hurricane Crawl and Soldier's caves. Caving Projects Crystal Cave Survey: The summer of 1997 should be the final field season for work on the Crystal Cave map. We plan to fix loop-closures on the survey, resketch a few areas, field check the drafted maps, remove the flagging that denotes stations, gather more cross sections showing the location of significant stations, and gather strikes and dips on the contacts with other rock types in the cave. Most of July will be consumed by this work.
Crystal Cave Restoration: This year's Crystal Cave Restoration weekend will be October 18 and 19. We have a special project in store for participants this year. West of the cave's Spider Web Gate Entrance and between the mens restroom and the outside is an old storage room that originally was a cave passage leading to two entrances. As much as is possible, we plan to restore this room to its original condition. This will involve removing masonry walls, a tar covered tin roof, a large assortment of junk, and wooden shelves. The floor is a poured concrete slab that I expect will be very difficult to remove, but we'll try! All of the material that we remove from the room must be carried up the hill to the cave parking lot. This will be a weekend of hard but rewarding work! Some pieces of equipment, such as the transformer and junction box for the lighting system, will stay in place. The room is potential habitat for entrance dwelling troglophilic animals, including the Pimoa spider and other animals unique to Crystal Cave. This work will also partially restore natural airflow through this section of the cave, which is essential for maintaining the right temperature and humidity for cave-adapted animals. I do not at this time have final approval from all interested parties for this project. However, I expect that this will be forthcoming in the next couple of months. If the project can not go forward, we'll gather on the same weekend and pursue our traditional restoration projects - rubble removal and cleaning. Carmoe Crevice Cave: This tight and vertical, but surprisingly long cave has never been fully surveyed. Carmoe also contains very large cave pearls, bones encased in calcite and many other fragile features. With this combination of hazards and outstanding features we plan to gate the cave. We hope to complete both of these projects during 1997. The gating will be relatively simple because the entrance is quite small, and bats do not inhabit the cave. Mapping the cave will require an extended effort and numerous trips. Soldier's Cave: This year's Soldier's Cave Trustee meeting will be held in the Fall (November 15 and 16). Once again, we will discuss management of the cave and any problems Trustees have encountered. We will also visit the cave to continue earlier efforts aimed at cleaning caver-deposited dirt in Ruby's Route. Hurricane Crawl: The four regular trips allowed into Hurricane Crawl each year will be allocated between three photographers working on the photo documentation and monitoring project, and cave surveyors who will be allowed to visit the cave once. The photo project has produced some fine photos to date and the current surveyed length of the cave just under 10,000 feet. Surveyors will be working in the Pleiades section where about 20 leads remain. Photographers will also work in this area and the front sections of the cave. Donald Davis, well know Colorado cave geologist visited the cave on an administrative trip in April this year. Donald was examining folia formations found in five places in Hurricane. Folia is a rare and poorly understood type of cave formation that consists of small inverted "cups" resembling upside-down rimstone dams.
Clough Cave: After being without a gate for nearly two years, the Park and interested cavers plan to double gate the cave and install a sign concerning federal penalties for entering Clough early this summer. This challenging project has been coordinated by John Woods, from the Southern California Grotto with assistance from Bart Rowlett, Paul Stovall and the Desert Dog Troglobites, who donated money for supplies to build the gate. Clough has long been a "party" cave. However, it is also home to many unique, probably endemic animals, including scorpions, isopods and spiders. If you are at the South Fork this summer, please take a few minutes and visit the cave entrance to check on the gate. It is difficult for Park staff to frequent this remote area of the Park, and everyones' help in checking on the gate is appreciated. Do not accost anyone you see tampering with the gate or entering the cave. Simply call for Park Rangers as soon as you have a chance. Cave Research Foundation: As always CRF has an active and exciting set of expeditions planned for 1997. Lilburn will see cartography and science trips Memorial Day weekend, July 4 weekend, July 26 and 27 and November 8, 9, 10 and 11. Mineral King will be the sight of backpacking/caving trips over the Labor Day and Columbus Day holiday weekends. In Mineral King caves will be active once again in White Chief Valley, in Panorama Bowl, and along Crystal Creek where several new and exciting cave entrances were discovered this spring.