By Joe Mitchell
After being effectively closed since March 2020, Texas Cave Management Association’s Robber Baron Cave is now reopened for regular visitation. The cave has long served as a recreational and educational resource for TCMA. Numerous new cavers have visited it over the years along with many others, including youth groups, scouts, outdoor recreation clubs, geology groups, and neighborhood groups. Robber Baron has also hosted periodic open house events where the general public could explore parts of the cave.
The cave’s closure resulted from the COVID lockdown and a subsequent environmental incident in 2021 at the cave entrance. In the process of resolving this, a new approach to managing the cave was developed to increase protection for its biology including its two known listed endangered species; improving safety; and retaining as much of the former access as possible. This process is now essentially complete, finally allowing resumption of access.
For biological protection, a key component was the creation of a Habitat Conservation Plan. This establishes a number of procedures to reduce impacts in the cave, such as changes in the number and size of trips and what can be taken in the cave. Significantly, the cave is divided into three major zones with varying levels of access including standard recreation access, research-restricted access (this includes digging and exploration), and limited special access only. Another component is an ongoing biological assessment of the cave to establish what exists and how it changes over time with seasons and changing access levels. These surveys are performed quarterly and cover as much of the cave as possible. A cricket count was performed over this past summer to assess wildlife that enters and exits the cave. In a related project, game cameras are monitoring the movement of any larger animals within the cave and at the entrances.
A second project was to improve safety around the sinkhole due to constant erosion, which was only worsened by the 2021 incident. Trees around the edge of the sinkhole perimeter were removed so that they would not take off portions of the wall when the fell. This has had an unexpected benefit of producing a sudden growth of flora – especially ferns – at the bottom of the sinkhole. Additionally, a new gate was constructed in the trench that leads into the sinkhole to keep unauthorized persons out and away from rockfall hazards. The surface of the property has also seen improvements in removal of overgrowth that obstructed visibility from the street leading to individuals camping or attempting to live on the property posing a safety hazard to visitors.
A new management plan was prepared, and most of the traditional visitation routes through the cave remain accessible. Markers were placed in the cave to indicate off-limits or restricted areas.
On November 29, a re-opening day was held at the cave for Texas cavers. This was a chance for newer cavers to visit it for the first time or longtime cavers to reacquaint themselves with it. It was attended by 23 people from the Bexar and UT Grottos, and lunch was provided on the surface. A major part of the day was trip leader training. Other attendees simply explored the cave’s maze of passages or visited on the surface. A couple of large boulders that had made their way down into the entrances in recent years were also broken up and removed.
With all this work behind us, trips may now be scheduled to the cave. One requirement is that new training is required for all trip leaders and each trip into the cave must have at least one approved trip leader. Although trips must be approved, visitation frequency by caver groups is not generally restricted. However, visitation by non-caver groups is restricted to no more than one such group per month. If you are interested in scheduling a trip or becoming a trip leader, please contact the preserve managers, Mike Harris and Joe Mitchell. Besides reaching out to them personally, they can also be reached at robberbaron@tcmacaves.org.