Bat Towers:

   Yeah, they’re old and weird, but how do they really differ from the toxic mine tailings that litter the mountains of Colorado—the trash that the exploiters never bothered to pick up? How can gcrg campaign relentlessly against the usgs cable crossings yet revere the bat towers? There’s something incredibly egocentric about thinking our species’ garbage is special, that it deserves to be preserved as a part of Grand Canyon. Teddy Roosevelt was right when he said “Mankind can only mar it.”

   Take out the towers, drain the lake, blow the dams. And take those bridges at Phantom out too. Viva Wilderness.

Bruce Wayne

   GUANO! The call of the river that the “young-timers” on the “Legends” trip last fall learned from Bob Rigg. Bob would shout it out, and from wherever Tad Nichols was, a responding call would follow. Soon, many of us joined the shouts, and some still continue to do it. Jim Rigg evidently started the call, possibly in reference to the Bat Cave and its potent supply. At the spring gts, Katie Lee added a few more details. Whenever one of the Rigg brothers was not on a trip, he would head to Navajo Bridge to greet the river party passing underneath. The greeting consisted of the largest flat rock one person could toss off the bridge, the act of tossing, and the shout of “GUANO!” just before the rock hit the river in front of the first boat. Also at the gts, Lois Jotter Cutter presented a river guide with a commemorative bag of bat guano, albeit not from the Bat Cave.

   GUANO! has other connotations, however. On January 13, 1995, Grand Canyon National Park issued a “Draft Environmental Assessment: Bat Cave Restoration, Grand Canyon National Park,” that caught many people off-guard. The comment period originally ended February 10. Due to unexpected concern for the project, gcnp extended the public comment period through April 24.

   The Park Service proposes to remove the three derelict tram towers of the bat guano mining operation at the Bat Cave, Colorado River Mile 266 (right bank only), in order to: provide optimal conditions for Mexican free-tailed bat restoration; protect the visiting public; and regain wilderness values. (see Kim Crumbo. 1994. Bat Cave Restoration Project Proposed, bqr. 8:1.

   Two alternatives are discussed in the dea: the proposed action, remove the towers and rehabilitate the impacted area; and no action, do not change current administrative actions for the area. Two other alternatives were considered and rejected: remove the towers on site with the use of a cutting torch; and close area to visitation and rehabilitate multiple trailing.

   Most folks in the River/Canyon community are probably bogged-down with their involvement and interest in the eis process involving Glen Canyon Dam and the Park General Management Plan, and probably do not want every proposal for action in the Park to be overly eised. The Bat Cave dea, however, is lacking in some regards: biological information on the Mexican free-tailed bat is sketchy, at best, with no dates given for habitation, mating, maternity, or occupancy in the cave, and little information given to population impacts; visitation, accident, and injury statistics are not given; and no definite time-table for proposed action was noted, except for the statement “late winter.”

   The Grand Canyon National Park Enlargement Act of 1975, included the Bat Cave area within gcnp. It, and other legislation, also mandated wilderness provisions for this area and also most of the Park. While many may be in agreement with the wilderness idea and proposals for Grand Canyon, the Wilderness Act of 1964 states that wilderness “may also contain ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, scenic, or historical value.” (Sec. 2(c).) This appears to mean that the Bat Cave guano mining operation may be left as a historical enclave within the wilderness area.

   Currently the guano mining operation relics associated with the Bat Cave do not meet the criterion of age of 50 years or more for historical designation. Even if the relics met this criterion, and all the other criterion for designation, and was designated a historic site under the National Historic Preservation Act, destruction or alteration of this site, or any other designated site, could still occur. As long as the Park Service documented the site in written and/or photographic form, the towers and other materials could be removed. nps is willing to document, as stated in the dea: “The towers do not meet the requirements for preservation as historic structures, however, in the interest of archival documentation, the Park Service will conduct an extensive mapping and photo documentation of the features prior to removal. The demolition phase will be recorded in detail using still photography and video.”

   What recourse does that leave for those who wish the relics of the guano mining operation to remain? Ann Howard, of the State Historic Preservation Office in Phoenix, has suggested that since nps is doing everything legally required and still may remove the towers, a viable alternative is public input and concern. Enough comments from concerned individuals and organizations might sway the ea towards another alternative. So far, comments from the first input period have delayed the proposal long enough so that another round of input has been allotted. From some nps statements it seems that the tower removal may not now occur this winter, though it might next. 

   Although the official comment period has ended, you can still send any comments you may have to Kim Crumbo, Bat Cave Restoration, gcnp, P.O. Box 129, Grand Canyon AZ 86023-0129. Copies of the ea may also be obtained from Kim.

   GUANO!!

C. V. Abyssus