Conservation

Caves are a fragile ecosystem. Not only do caves contain beautiful calcite, rock and mud formations. They are also home to bats and other creatures and micro-organisms. While we do like to visit the caves we respect them by minimizing our impact on the cave environment. We do this by Leave No Trace including removal of our own human waste and trying to leave the cave and surrounding area in a better condition than when we found it. We have participated in Cave clean-up, graffiti removal and restoration projects and support the Western Cave Conservancy in their efforts to protect caves.

Caves are often used by Bats as a place to roost (sleep) during the day, hibernate during the winter and form a maturnity colony to rear their young pup(s) in the spring. Disturbing hibernacula and maturnity roosts can have disasterous affects on the bats that live there, as such known roosts are avoided during critical parts of the year. If we do observe bats in caves then we quitely leave and avoid disturbing them.

Bats are not well understood by the general public and suffer from proliferation of harmful myths, persecution, habitate loss and disease. On the other hand they fulfill vital roles of pest control, pollination and seed dispersal. An issue of specific concern in the USA is the spread of White Nose Syndrome (WNS) that has destroyed millions of bats in the USA. While, California has not currently observed bats with WNS, the fungus (Pseudogymnoascus destructans) that causes WNS has been observed. While, there is no evidence to suggest that WNS is transmitted to bats from human visitation, cavers do observe decontamination protocols to ensure that our clothing and equipment is free of the fungus.