CAVE EXPLORATION AND KARST MANAGEMENT IN THE PRYOR MOUNTAINS, MT

Custer Gallatin National Forest (CGNF) is home to the scenic Beartooth Highway, Beartooth and Pryor Mountains, the Stillwater complex, numerous cave systems, abandoned uranium mines, and is the main gateway to Yellowstone National Park. CGNF assembled a cave management team (CMT) to conduct cave exploration with the purpose of monitoring, inventory, and identification of caves as significant resources.

The Forest Service manages caves on public land under the Federal Cave Resources Protection Act (FCRPA) of 1988. The FCRPA provides guidelines to which caves can be designated as significant. Caves can be deemed significant based on biology, cultural resources, hydrological resources, geologic/mineralogic/paleontologic resources, recreational value, or educational/scientific value.

Cave and karst resources can be greatly impacted by management actions such as timber harvest, mining, grazing, use of herbicides, and development of infrastructure. CMT utilized a helicopter survey conducted near the cliffs of the Madison limestone, a karst-forming unit, and assisted in karst resource inventory and management. CMT conducted cave exploration and monitoring of cave resources on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and CGNF lands in the Pryor Mountains. CMT identified potential caves for inventory, monitoring, significance evaluation, and assisted in cave survey. CMT completed above and below ground field work: Located and entered cave systems to document and monitor physical cave characteristics, including biologic, geologic, hydrologic, and cultural resources. CMT nominated numerous new caves as significant on CGNF and BLM lands.