United States Department of the Interior
Bureau of Land Management
Washington, DC 20240
February 24, 1994 In Reply Refer To
8380(270)
Instruction Memorandum No. 94- 125
Expires 9/30/94
To: All State Directors
From: Director
Subject: Implementation of Cave Management Regulations, 43 CFR Part 37
The purpose of the memorandum is to provide you with the instructions for implementing the recently published Cave Management Regulations. The Cave Management regulations, 43 CFR Part 37, were published in the Federal Register, Volume 58, No 189, Friday October 1, 1993, pages 51550-51555. It is a Departmental regulation prepared in response to requirements in the Federal Cave Resources Protection Act (FCRPA) of 1988.
The FCRPA required the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture to prepare regulations that would include criteria for the identification of significant caves. The Department of Agriculture is in the process of issuing companion (nearly identical) regulations.
Section 4(b)(1)(A) of FCRPA requires the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture to prepare an initial list of significant caves for lands under their jurisdiction not later than one year after the publication of final regulations. This directive provides the instructions for completing the significant cave listing process.
Implementation of the cave regulations is an interagency effort. The "Interagency Procedure for Listing Significant Caves" (see Attachment 1) provides the general procedures for all Interior and Agriculture agencies involved in the listing of significant caves. Copies of the interagency procedure will be distributed by all the involved agencies including the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Bureau of Reclamation (BR), Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), National Park Service (NPS), and the Forest Service (FS).
Attachment 2 contains the BLM supplemental procedures for listing significant caves. This supplements the interagency procedures and provides specific guidance for BLM implementation of the regulations.
The interagency procedure frequently refers to the responsibilities and authorities of the "Authorized Officer". The BLM authorized officers are Area Managers. All decisions relating to the listing of significant caves are hereby delegated to Area Managers.
The listing process is being coordinated by a National Interagency Overview Team. Regional Interagency Review Teams have been established to provide technical evaluation of the cave nominations and to ensure consistency and professional integrity. BLM representatives on these teams are shown on Attachment 3. National and regional team members attended an interagency workshop in Carlsbad, New Mexico, on October 25-26, 1993, to coordinate the team efforts.
All levels of management are encouraged to work closely with the caving community in the initial and subsequent listing processes and during the planning and management decision making process that will follow the listing of significant caves. One of the primary purposes of the FCRPA is to "...foster increased cooperation and exchange of information between governmental authorities and those who utilize cave resources...".
You are encouraged to enter into partnerships with local caving groups to implement the provisions of the cave regulations and to provide for the long term protection and management of cave resources. The development of partnership documents such as Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) should be guided by the National MOU between the BLM and the National Speleological society and the Cave Research Foundation which was signed in 1984.
You should plan to make extra copies of the Information Packet for the Nomination of Significant Caves (see Attachment 1, enclosure 3) and have them available to distribute to the public upon request.
Care must be taken to ensure the safety of people involved in on-site investigations of caves. Many BLM personnel are not familiar with the safety precautions that must be taken in cave exploration. There are many hazards that could result in serious injury or death if the necessary precautions are not taken. It is imperative that BLM personnel entering caves either be experienced cavers or be accompanied by experienced cavers. Special precautions must be taken to ensure that caves are free from either man induced or natural chemicals or gases that could result in personal injury.
Questions concerning the implementation of the cave regulations may be directed to Del Price at (303)239-3739 or Hal Hallett at (202)452-7790.
Attachments:
1 - Interagency Procedure for Listing Significant Caves
Enclosure 1 - National Interagency Overview Team
Enclosure 2 - Regional Interagency Review Team
Enclosure 3 - Information Packet for the Nomination of Significant caves
Enclosure 4 - Authorized Officer Role and Responsibilities
Enclosure 5 - Significant Cave Finding/Decision
2 - BLM Supplemental Procedure for Listing Significant Caves
Enclosure 1 - Sample Format for Listing of Significant Caves
Enclosure 2 - List of Regional Interagency Team Leaders
3 - BLM Regional Team Members
INTERAGENCY PROCEDURE
for the
Listing of Significant Caves
Interagency Procedure for Listing Significant Caves
INTRODUCTION
The Federal Cave Resources Protection Act of 1988 (16 U.S.C. 43014309), hereafter referred to as the " Act," directs the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture to prepare and maintain a list of significant caves. The Secretaries are also required to issue companion (nearly identical) regulations listing the criteria for the identification of significant caves (see 43 CFR Part 37 [Interior] and 36 CFR Parts 261 and 290 [Agriculture]). The Departments of the Interior and Agriculture regulations are collectively referred to hereafter as the "regulations". Following are the procedures for implementing the significant cave and confidentiality provisions in the regulations.
BACKGROUND
To understand the intent of the regulations, it is important to understand the purpose for listing significant caves. The "significant cave" provisions were added late in the legislative process to provide a screening process so that federal agencies would not be required to "manage every little hole in the ground" or to screen out cave-like features containing "...no resources of any interest to anyone or any recognizable natural resource value." It is clearly the intent of the Act that significant caves include all caves that meet any one of the criteria in the regulations. A cave need not be special or different to be listed as significant.
Although the word inventory is not used in the Act, it is clear that the significant cave listing process is an inventory process for identifying cave resources. The listing of a cave as significant does not imply specific protection requirements. The Act requires significant caves be protected and maintained "to the extent practical." It is clear that Congress intended that the "extent practical" or the type and degree of protection be determined through agency resource management planning processes (see Section 4(c)(1) of the Act).
LISTING PROCESS
The listing of significant caves involves two separate processes. The first or "initial" listing process is a special effort to obtain and evaluate information on known caves on a one-time basis. It is an interagency effort in consultation with individuals or organizations interested in cave resources. The second or "subsequent" listing process provides a means for updating the initial list. The subsequent listing process will continue indefinitely. Both processes involve interested private individuals, organizations, and governmental agencies. Each of the processes has three steps: (1)nomination; (2) evaluation; and (3) listing.
TIMING FOR COMPLETING THE INITIAL LISTING PROCESS
The initial listing must be completed within one year after the call for nominations is published in the Federal Register. The schedule for accomplishing this task is:
¨ month 1 - notify potential applicants;
¨ months 2-6: applicants prepare and submit nominations;
¨ months 7-9: regional review teams complete review;
¨ months 10-12: authorized officers complete review and makes decision.
COORDINATION
Implementation of the cave regulations is an interagency effort. The implementation will be coordinated through the National Interagency Overview Team (see Enclosure 1). To ensure consistency and professional integrity, Regional Interagency Review Teams are established to provide a technical evaluation of the cave nominations (see Enclosure 2). All levels of management are encouraged to work closely with the caving community in the initial and subsequent listing processes, and during the planning and management decision-making process that will follow the listing of significant caves.
Initial Listing Process
NOMINATIONS
1. Call for Nominations. A Federal Register notice will be published informing the public that the nomination process is open and providing guidelines for preparing the nomination. Additional outreach efforts will be used to announce the call for nominations including:
¨Press releases at the national, state, and local levels
¨Internal newsletters
¨Agency directives
¨Workshops, seminars, and symposiums at the national, state, and local levels
¨Computer networks within caving organizations
¨Interest groups newsletters
2. Preparation of Nominations. Nominations may be prepared by private individuals, organizations, and agencies. An information packet (see Enclosure 3) will be made available to any individual interested in preparing and submitting a nomination. The packet includes a "worksheet" which specifies the information that must be included in the nomination. The information packets are available at all state, regional, and national offices of all the participating federal agencies. The information packets are also available to national cave and speleological organizations for distribution to their members.
3. Deadline for Submitting Nominations. All nominations for the initial listing must be received within six months after the date the call for nominations is published in the Federal Register. Nominations received after the six-month deadline will be handled under the subsequent listing process.
4. Submission of Nominations. Nominations will be mailed to the following address:
Cave Nomination Clearing House
Post Office Box 10
Three Rivers, California 93271
The clearing house will log-in the nominations and forward them on to the appropriate Regional Interagency Review Team for evaluation.
EVALUATION AND LISTING
1. Evaluation by Regional Interagency Review Team. Each nomination will be evaluated by a Regional Interagency Review Team to determine if the cave meets the significant cave criteria listed in the cave regulations. The team may consult with outside experts during the evaluation process. They will recommend that the cave either be listed or not listed and forward their recommendations with appropriate documentation to the agency authorized officer (see agency specific procedures for description of authorized officers.) The team leader will maintain a log for keeping track of the key dates and actions relating to each nomination. There will be no ranking of caves.
2. Verification by Authorized Officer. Upon receipt of the recommendations from the regional review team, the agency authorized officer will review the nominations to verify the completeness and accuracy of the data submitted (see Enclosure 4 for the duties and responsibilities of the Authorized Officer). If there is insufficient information to make a listing decision, the authorized officer may either (1) request more information from the nominator; (2) consult with experts who are knowledgeable of the cave resources; (3) verify through existing information on file; or (4) verify through an on-site investigation. Nominations returned to nominators for more information will be voided if not returned within three months.
3. Finding and Decision. Based on the recommendation from the regional review team and the data provided through the verification process, the authorized officer will develop the finding and make the listing decision for each cave.
DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS
The finding will be recorded in a finding/decision document (see Enclosure 5) that will be signed and dated by the authorized officer. The finding/decision document will be retained in a confidential file in the local agency office. A copy of the finding/decision document will be forwarded to the person who nominated the cave. If the cave is not listed, the entire nomination file will be returned to the individual or organization who submitted the nomination. All actions taken by the authorized officer will be recorded in a cave log and retained in the cave nomination file. A copy of the cave logs will be forwarded annually to the agency national cave representative through the appropriate agency channels. The file of cave logs at the national level together with the cave files at the local level will constitute the listing of significant caves.
CONFIDENTIALITY OF NOMINATION INFORMATION
All location information submitted with the nominations is to be kept confidential throughout the evaluation and listing process. No copies shall be made of the nominations and the materials submitted therewith. It is essential that personnel using these documents be aware of the sensitivity of the information and guard against dissemination. This includes disclosure of specific information through casual conversation. The FCRPA specifically exempts the disclosure of cave location information from provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.
The caving community, having compiled extensive cave records over several decades, has been hesitant to provide federal agencies with this information except in crisis situations. Cavers fear that the cave location information they provide may be disclosed to the public, and thereby lead to damage of caves. The need to maintain full confidentiality of all cave location information cannot be overstated if full cooperation is to be maintained.
These nominations will contain information which, if made public, could contribute to the destruction of this finite, nonrenewable resource. All information submitted with nominations will be held in the strictest confidence. All training sessions in which cave resources are an issue, will stress the confidentiality of specific location of caves and associated resources.
FOLLOW-UP ACTIONS
1. Public Announcement. A public announcement or news release may be prepared and distributed at the completion of the initial listing period. Each agency will determine separately how this will be accomplished. This document will give a status report on the nominations considered during the listing process. Care will be taken to ensure the report does not include confidential information.
2. Security Measures. The field officers will take necessary measures to ensure the confidentiality of significant cave location information including:
¨Protecting significant cave information from unauthorized access by employees and the public;
¨Appointing a keeper of cave information in each field office having significant caves and ensuring that all requests for information are channeled through this individual or an appointed alternate;
¨Ensuring that public contact persons are carefully instructed and trained in confidentiality requirements.
3. Interim Protection. Significant caves will be given interim protection until they can be incorporated in the agency resource management plans.