Open Season for 2017 Caving Season Project Proposals
Open Season for 2017 Caving Season Project Proposals
The Roswell Field Office is now accepting project work and scientific proposals for the 2017 caving season for caves within the Roswell Field Office boundaries. The proposal format and criteria is located HERE. All proposals must be received by January 16, 2017.
2016 Fort Stanton Cave Update and other important Information!
The 2016 caving season brought more surprises and challenges. Firstly, last April, we found that flooding had continued in Conrad's Branch and the Main Corridor. Two trips were made to Snowy River to download data loggers and monitor Snowy River flow. Snowy River has flowed continuously for over two years now. All trips/entries to Snowy River were voluntarily returned to the BLM, and applied to trips doing work in the historic portion of the Cave. We accomplished more resurvey and some restoration! There is more work to do in this area. Climate predictions from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration guess that temperatures will be above normal, and precipitation will below normal for the winter and spring. If this is the case, then there is a good chance that caving will resume on Snowy River in mid to late May. Water levels in the Main Corridor and Conrad's Branch have been steadily dropping throughout 2016, and should continue to drop over the winter. In April of 2017, a reconnaissance trip will occur to determine the state of flooding, which will determine which trips will move forward.
The Roswell Field Office would like to see a variety of proposals for 2017. If Snowy River remains, or becomes flooded again in 2017, the focus of work will be in the historic part of the Cave. In the historic part of the Cave, priority will be given to proposals that offer to clean up old survey, restoration, and trail marking. There will be a number of entries set aside for this type of trip.
Approved Snowy River trips that were not able to occur during the 2015 - 2016 caving seasons due to flooding will need to submit a short update during the open proposal period. This update should have the same title as the original proposal, contain a short statement about your desire to attempt the trip during the 2017 caving season, and any updated info or trip details. These trips will be the first group of trips to be looked at in filling out the roster of Snowy River trips. The trips that were approved for 2015/2016 have a high likelihood of going forward in 2017, and are considered pre-approved by the New Mexico Cave Management Team (CMT). However, they will be reviewed to see if they still fulfill BLM objectives for the Cave, and could be displaced by higher priority trips.
New proposals for historic portions of the Cave and Snowy River will be reviewed by the Roswell Field Office. If the proposal is recommended to move forward in the process, it will then be passed onto the CMT for their recommendations. The Roswell Field Manager makes final approval on all proposals.
PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE PROPOSAL CRITERIA SHEET! Take note of the email address you need to send the proposal to. Please be sure to include ALL required information in your proposal. Failure to do so will result in you proposal not being considered.
All proposals must be received by January 16, 2017.
The proposal format and criteria is located HERE.