Carlsbad Caverns visit 1994

In March 1994 I was in the USA for the first time. My first night was spent in El Paso, which is a border town in the extreme western corner of Texas. It stands on the bank of the Rio Grande with the Mexican state of Chihuahua on the other side. The next day I took the bus to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, it is 145 miles northeast of El Paso. The bus dropped me at White City near the Carlsbad Hotel and I then managed to get a lift to Carlsbad Caverns, 7 miles away.

The show cave entrance complex is situated in a hill overlooking the Chihuahuan Desert.

I paid for the Red Tour, $5 and took the elevator down 750' into the cave. I stepped out into a concrete world of shops, cafe, lunch room etc. A big chill immediately hit me as it was so much cooler than the outside.

I did the self guided walk of about an hour around the Big Room, which used to be the world's largest chamber until Sarawak Chamber in Mulu was found. The chamber is full of stal, some is huge. I saw the Bottomless Pit.

There was another tour, the Blue Route, which uses the natural entrance but the last tour was at 2 pm.

A very nice cave, one of the best I have seen, just a pity I couldn't see more. There was a good display in the exhibition area.

5 miles from Carlsbad is Lechuguilla Cave in the Guadalupe Mountains.

From Carlsbad Cavern I went to Carlsbad town, 27 miles away -

See more on the Carlsbad Caverns homepage.

Conservationists save the Bracken Cave bats, Texas

Bracken Cave in Texas is quite famous as it the summer home to the world's largest bat colony. Millions of Mexican free-tailed bats live in the cave from March through till October, making this one of the largest concentration of mammals on earth.

An estimated 10 million bats emerge from the cave each night. The cave is just north of San Antonio.

In recent months the cave has been threatened by a possible nearby development. A San Antonio developer proposed to build 3800 homes on 1,500 acres just south of the cave area. The cave and surrounding area is owned and protected by Bat Conservation International.

Now it looks as if the building developer has dropped the project.

Read more about the bats and cave on Bat Conservation International.

Cave invertebrates in Texas on endangered species act

The news items describes how 3 species of cave invertebrates in a cave in Texas have had their habitat saved, by being listed on the Endangered Species act. This is important news for caves/cavers worldwide.

Also it is relevant in our fight to  save Gunung Kanthan in Malaysia from being destroyed by Lafarge. Kanthan hill and cave are home to endemic species, in particular the trapdoor spider Liphistius kanthan. See also letters to the media.


The Texas news item can be seen on Commondreams.org , 22 Oct 2013. I've reproduced it here in case the original source goes.

Rare Cave-dwelling Creatures in Texas Hill Country Gain Protected Habitat Under Endangered Species Act

SAN ANTONIO - October 22 - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized “critical habitat” protection today for three rare invertebrates in Comal and Hays counties, Texas. The designation protects 169 acres of habitat for the cave-dwelling animals, which include two beetles and a crustacean. The protected habitat includes subsurface areas that scientists have identified as critical to the animals’ survival.
“Protecting aquatic habitat for these tiny animals will help safeguard the special natural history of Texas for generations to come,” said Tierra Curry, a conservation biologist at the Center for Biological Diversity.
The animals — Comal Springs riffle beetles, Comal Springs dryopid beetles and Peck’s cave amphipods — were protected under the Endangered Species Act in 1997, after which the Center and allies filed a series of lawsuits to gain protected habitat for the animals, including subsurface areas.
The habitat areas set aside for the animals overlap, consisting of 39 acres of surface habitat and 139 acres of subsurface habitat for the Comal Springs dryopid beetle; 38 surface acres and 138 subsurface acres for the Peck’s cave amphipod; and 54 acres of protected surface habitat for the Comal Springs riffle beetle.

All three of the freshwater invertebrates are found nowhere in the world except four Texas springs, where they are threatened by groundwater pumping from the Edwards Aquifer.
Groups that filed suit to gain habitat protection for the species were the Center for Biological Diversity, Citizen’s Alliance for Smart Expansion and Aquifer Guardians in Urban Areas.