[Nmcaver] Fwd: NEWS: N.M. Lawmakers Hail New Passageway to Snowy River

[Steve Peerman]

Begin forwarded message:

> Subject: NEWS:  N.M. Lawmakers Hail New Passageway to Snowy River
>
>

>
> NEWS RELEASE
> New Mexico Congressional Delegation

>
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   CHRIS GALLEGOS/Domenici (202) 224-7082
> JULY 20, 2007                                JUDE McCARTIN/Bingaman  
> (202) 224-1804
>                                                             BRIAN  
> PHILLIPS/Pearce (202) 225-4759
>
>
> N.M. LAWMAKERS HAIL NEW PASSAGEWAY TO SNOWY RIVER
>
> Safer Access Opens New Research at Rare Ft. Stanton Cave Formation
> (Power point presentation on passageway development available on  
> request)
>          WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Pete Domenici and Jeff  
> Bingaman, with Congressman Steve Pearce, today commended the Bureau  
> of Land Management (BLM) and their cave volunteers for successfully  
> creating a new, safer entrance to the remarkable Snowy River  
> passage at Fort Stanton Cave in Lincoln County—a passage believed  
> to be the longest continuous calcite formation in the world.
>
> The lawmakers hailed the breakthrough as important to their  
> legislative efforts to protect the passage with the Fort Stanton- 
> Snowy River Cave National Conservation Area Act (S.260/HR.1989).  
> The new subterranean passageway will allow safer access to the  
> Snowy River for scientists to study the formation, including cave  
> hydrology, microorganisms and paleoclimate studies.  The new  
> passage was completed late last month.
>
> “This breakthrough is remarkable because it safely opens the Snowy  
> River for research and discovery.  The fact that flowing water was  
> found in the Snowy River passage opens up whole new areas for  
> research.  I think this is exciting, and look forward to backing up  
> these underground discoveries with enactment of our legislation to  
> protect the cave,” Domenici said.
>
> “Snowy River Cave was a tremendous discovery.  This new passage  
> will give scientists easier access to the cave so that they can do  
> important research,” said Bingaman, chairman of the Senate Energy  
> and Natural Resources committee.
>
> “This cave is a valuable resource that in time will share with us  
> its many wonders, but to do that we must preserve this resource for  
> the future.  The creation of the Fort Stanton-Snowy River Cave  
> National Conservation Area will secure and conserve the natural and  
> unique features of the Snowy River Cave. The opening of the new  
> entrance will give researchers unprecedented access and possibly  
> give us a window to learn more about the geological history of the  
> region,” Pearce said.
>
> The BLM closed access to Snowy River in 2004, until a safer route  
> could be found.  The new passageway was dug by BLM volunteer  
> cavers, and a breakthrough to Snowy River occurred June 30.  Access  
> to the Snowy River passage will continue to be limited to  
> scientific researchers.  According to BLM, scientists at New Mexico  
> Tech, New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources,  
> University of New Mexico, and the National Cave and Karst Research  
> Institute have studied Snowy River “revealing aspects of its age,  
> its hydrology, exotic manganese-eating microorganisms, and  
> antibiotic producing bacteria on the walls, amongst other findings.”
>
>           S.260, introduced by Domenici, has been passed by the  
> Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and is awaiting  
> consideration by the full Senate.  The House companion bill is  
> pending in committee.  The legislation creates a Fort Stanton-Snowy  
> River Cave National Conservation Area to protect, secure and  
> preserve the natural and unique features of the Snowy River Passage  
> and the Fort Stanton Cave.  It also authorizes the Bureau of Land  
> Management to develop a map and legal description of Fort Stanton  
> Cave, and to develop a comprehensive, long-term management plan for  
> the cave area.
>
>           The Snowy River is a continuous calcite formation that  
> extends more than two miles in the Fort Stanton Cave.  Exploration  
> of this cave dates back to at least the 1850s, but the Snowy River  
> passage was only discovered in 2001, and kept secret until Domenici  
> announced its discovery in 2005.
>
> --30--
>

Steve Peerman

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things  
you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines,  
Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in you sails.  
Explore. Dream. Discover."
     attributed to Mark Twain, but no record exists of his having  
written this.



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