Great Basin National Park's First Cave Management Plans

First published in The Midden*, Great Basin National Park's newsletter, Vol. 19, No. 2, Winter 2019. By Gretchen Baker, ecologist.*

Most of Great Basin's caves involve crawling and specialised gear. Seven caves in the park are now open for permitted recreational visits. NPS photo by Gretchen Baker.

Great Basin National Park now has two approved plans — a Lehman Caves Management Plan and a Wild Caves and Karst Management Plan. They are the park's first cave management plans, and will guide the care of its 40 known caves and more than 20,000 acres of karst (bedrock that may contain caves).

Both went through review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), ending in a Finding of No Significant Impact signed by Regional Director Stan Austin on September 23, 2019.

Lehman Caves

The Lehman Caves plan directs the park to:

• add more kinds of cave tour, including a virtual tour;
• rehabilitate ageing infrastructure, especially the lighting system;
• protect natural and cultural resources;
• allow research.

The wild caves

The second plan protects the park's 39 undeveloped caves. Some are open by permit for recreation at set times of year; all the others are closed except for research and management.

Permits go to people who can show a cave conservation ethic and experience with horizontal and vertical caving techniques and equipment:

• one permit a week per cave during its open period;
• 3 to 6 people per group;
• the group must have enough experience to travel through the cave safely on its own.

When the seven recreational caves are open.

To apply, contact the park's cave specialist at least two weeks before the planned trip, by the park's email form or at 775-234-7541.

What comes next

The plans will help the park plan future work. They identified gaps in what is known, and one proposal to improve conservation at Lehman Caves has already been funded.

Sources

• National Park Service, Great Basin National Park, "Cave Management Plans Finalized," The Midden, Vol. 19, No. 2, Winter 2019. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/cave-management-plans-finalized.htm
• The original calls NEPA the "National Environmental Protection Act"; its name is the National Environmental Policy Act.
• Rewritten in hubnx's own words.