Cave fish and Bat guano----Be careful

[Versatile]

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.-Late-August heat beat down from above and radiated
from the very earth as Vergial Harp set out across a pasture in
southwest Missouri. Ponds along the gravel road where he left his
government truck were shrunken and algae filled. A thick layer of dust
gave vegetation an ashen pallor.

A quarter-mile trek brought him to the verge of a creek burbling with
clear water, despite a drought of three years and counting. The air was
still, and only cicada songs broke the stillness.

Parting the streamside vegetation and scrambling down the bank, he
entered a different world. The air was easily 10 degrees cooler and damp
enough to fog eyeglasses. The water felt refreshing on his fingers when
he stooped to test its coolness.

Turning upstream, he picked his way along the bedrock, skirting spots
deeper than his boot tops. The water grew cooler as he went along. One
bank backed up to a steep hillside, almost a bluff. He stopped where a
small declivity punctuated the rock. The plants growing in the water
changed here, growing more succulent, and Harp could feel an extra
chill, even through his waterproof boots.

"This is Hearrell Spring," he said, indicating a shallow expanse
where rising water tickled the sand-and-gravel bottom. "That is the
outlet for an underground stream that runs through a cave."

Harp is a Refuge Ranger with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)
based in Puxico, Mo. On this August day, he was visiting one of the
areas for which he is responsible, Ozark Cavefish National Wildlife
Refuge (NWR).

At just over 40 acres, it has the distinction of being the
second-smallest national wildlife refuge. The heart of the refuge lies
beneath the surface of the land, and much about the area remains
mysterious, even to Harp. Concern for its unique and largely
uncatalogued biological contents currently keep the area closed to
public use, but Harp hopes that eventually will change.

Ozark Cavefish NWR came into existence in 1991, with the acquisition of
40 acres in Lawrence County. The land adjoins two areas owned by the
Missouri Department of Conservation. One of the conservation areas has
an extensive cave system known to harbor the federally threatened Ozark
cavefish. Preserving the eyeless, 2-inch fish is the refuge's reason
for being. A separate, 1.3-acre tract adjacent to the Neosho National
Fish Hatchery, also known to harbor Ozark cavefish, comprises the
remainder of the NWR.

Ozark cavefish are known to live only in a few caves in southwestern
Missouri, northwestern Arkansas and northeastern Oklahoma. Early
settlers in the region called the tiny, pinkish-white fish "well
keepers," because their presence was proof of clean water. Their
sensitivity to pollution makes them good environmental barometers even
today. Pesticides, chemical spills, soil erosion, and runoff from roads,
parking lots, garbage dumps, septic systems and livestock operations may
account for their limited present-day distribution.

Cavefish protection drives most management decisions at Ozark Cavefish
NWR. This cautious approach accounts for the fact that the refuge
currently is closed to public use.

"We don't have a good grasp of what is here," said Harp. "I
can't say there are cave fish on this site. It's what we don't see
here that's critical. It's kind of like seeing the tracks of an
animal. You know they have been there. You know that area is probably
important to them. We know they have been in the cave, but right here,
we can't say that."

Harp said FWS officials are moving with deliberate care to learn enough
about the area to ensure they can manage it wisely before opening it to
public use. Understanding the area, says Harp, includes conducting
inventories of plants and animals that live on - and beneath - the land.
It includes learning how activities above ground might affect
subterranean water quality.

The FWS is working to establish a partnership with the Conservation
Department for managing the area. The endangered gray bat is known to
inhabit the cave on the conservation area, and the flying mammals'
droppings are one of the major sources of nutrients that cavefish need
to survive. The state agency's efforts to ensure the survival of the
bats plays into the FWS's goal of preserving the cavefish.

The FWS also is looking for area residents who might be interested in
getting involved in the area's management.

The 15-year management plan currently under development contemplates
adding a half-time refuge operations specialist to oversee refuge
management. Other ambitions include hiring a half-time specialist to
monitor and manage Ozark Cavefish NWR and placing a webcam at Hearrell
Springs to provide a public window on the area. An interpretive kiosk
also is part of long-term plans.

At present, only scientific, educational and interpretive uses are
allowed on the refuge. Eventually, however, the FWS hopes to open at
least part of the area to wildlife-based recreation, including hunting,
fishing, environmental education, wildlife observation and photography.

Harp said Ozark Cavefish NWR's size makes it especially important.

"The fact it is so small makes it really special, because it is so
concentrated. It is home to these endangered species, and without it,
you won't have those and the various other species. They all go
together, the gray bats' guano is the food source for the cavefish and
the cavefish is a component of the system, too."

He said the refuge's location near Springfield, Joplin and Neosho
gives it potential value for environmental education. "There is an
opportunity to bring groups here and show them what the ecological
components are in this area. As far as recreation such as fishing, if
the stream is carefully managed from the outset so you don't get
overcrowding or adverse effects, there are opportunities to have public
use here in some form over the next five to 10 years."

For more information about Ozark Cavefish NWR and other small,
high-quality examples of Missouri's many unique ecosystems, visit
www.fws.gov/midwest/, or www.mdc.mo.gov/areas/natareas/, or contact
Natural Areas Coordinator, Missouri Department of Conservation, P.O. Box
180, Jefferson City, Missouri 65102-0180.

[junkman306]

Very interesting. I've lived in Lawrence county all my life up until recently and I didn't know that was there.