BLM’s Fort Stanton Cave focus of talk at Smokey Bear Days

This year’s Smokey Bear Days featured two days of events, food and music, as well as talks about the nearby Fort Stanton Cave by Knutt Peterson, a cave and karst specialist for the Bureau of Land Management Roswell Field Office.

Peterson gave two talks on May 4 at the Capitan Public Library, highlighting educational outreach and scientific projects in the cave, recreation opportunities at the BLM’s Fort Stanton-Snowy River Cave National Conservation Area, and BLM’s sinkhole cleanup activities in the area. He included many photos, maps and informational slides to illustrate the talks.

Firefighters found the original Smokey Bear cub near Capitan in 1950, and the U.S. Forest Service’s Smokey Bear Ranger District surrounds much of Capitan and the BLM’s Fort Stanton-Snowy River Cave National Conservation Area. The village holds the celebration every five years. In addition to Peterson’s talks, the BLM staffed an informational table May 3 and 4.

Fort Stanton Cave, which receives its name from the nearby historic military fort run by the State of New Mexico, includes more than 44 miles of mapped passage, and is the 10th longest cave in the United States and the 62nd longest cave in the world, Peterson said.

“It has more mapped passage than Carlsbad Caverns,” Peterson told visitors at the 11:15 a.m. talk May 4. “If you’ve been in Carlsbad Caverns, [Fort Stanton Cave] is a bigger cave. There may be bigger rooms [at Carlsbad Caverns]. There may be more formations there, but as far as extent of passage, this one is much bigger. This is just as spectacular in its own way.”

The Snowy River Passage, within Fort Stanton Cave, is composed of white calcite deposited by water that sometimes flows through the cave, Peterson said. When traveling on Snowy River Passage, which is about 13 miles long, cavers must wear elbow and kneepads because the surface of the formation is extremely abrasive.

The BLM has kept Fort Stanton Cave closed to recreational caving for about 10 years due to white-nose syndrome, a contagious fungal infection that kills about 90% of bats it infects, it is only open for educational and scientific use.

The BLM limits entries into the cave to 350 a year, Peterson said. About 100 of those entries are for youths entering the cave for educational purposes, and the rest are for scientific entries.

The BLM’s educational outreach program features Caver Quest Academy, in partnership with the nonprofit Public Lands Interpretive Association, which teaches local seventh graders about Fort Stanton Cave in the classroom, includes a realistic video game about caving, and culminates in a trip to the cave for many of them, Peterson said.

In terms of scientific entries, scientists monitor bats, the cave’s climate and soil contents, Peterson said. They also continue to map the cave and restore it from damage due to past recreational use.

The Roswell Field Office is a leader in white-nose decontamination, Peterson said.  The use of dedicated gear at Fort Stanton Cave also helps stop the potential for the human spread of white-nose syndrome to and from the cave. Every time cavers use the Fort Stanton Cave gear, Peterson and others wash and decontaminate it.

“Because we can ‘decon’ large quantities of gear we’ve taken the ‘decon’ station to major caving events around the country and talk about decontaminating cave gear,” Peterson said.

Although Fort Stanton Cave is closed to recreation, the rest of the NCA has many other recreational opportunities, Peterson said.

The NCA includes two campgrounds, Cave Campground and Rob Jaggers Campground, and 70 miles of trails that are open to hikers, equestrians and mountain bikers, Peterson said. There are also opportunities for visiting cultural and historical sites, picnicking, hunting, wildlife viewing, nature study and photography.

The BLM also has a program that removes trash from sinkholes in the Sacramento Gypsum Plains north of Capitan, Peterson said. Most of the projects involve volunteers, but some are too large and require the BLM to hire contractors to remove trash.

Looking to the future of Fort Stanton Cave, Peterson said the BLM plans to continue exploration, restoration and public outreach efforts as much as possible.

To learn more about Caver Quest Academy, visit https://publiclands.org/pages/caver-quest-academy-project