Texas Cave Conservancy Educational Show Cave

The Texas Cave Conservancy  (TCC) announces acqusition of Avery Ranch Cave, located near Round Rock, Texas.

On March 6, 2006 the Avery Ranch Homeowner's Association transferred ownership of this small, one room cave to the TCC.  The Conservancy will be developing this site as an educational show cave, available to cavers and members of the public at no charge.  It will become a valuable tool  in the TCC's cave related public education efforts.

Background
On May 2, 2001 contractors, excavating a one meter wide trench for a sewer line at Avery Ranch inWilliamson County, cut into the side of a small, highly decorated cave.  Caver Kimble White was
summoned to check out the cave.  He found a room twenty five to thirty feet in diameter, up to eighteen feet high and filled with formations.

The following is Kimble's account of what occurred next: "It was hit during trenching of a sewer line on May 2, 2001. I was the first to enter and explore it that evening. Hub Bechtol, Brad Sappington, and Kristin White returned with me the next morning and helped  map it. We took clean shoes into the cave with us and changed into them after making it past the muddy trench...we used a long piece of bamboo to place the end of the tape at various locations for our survey shots so as not to have to climb on the speleothems.  To their
credit the developer re-designed the sewer trench and the road it followed to avoid the cave. They gave up three lots on top to protect the cave and had the hatch installed on top to keep the speleothems from drying out. Others who entered the cave in that first week were Sylvia Pope and some others from COA, and  Heather Beatty from TCEQ.

Mike Warton came out later when I recommended him to the owners for installing the hatch.  An interesting anecdote: While Sue Hovorka (Edwards Aquifer expert with!  the UT Bureau of Economic Geology) was rewriting the TCEQ guidelines for conducting Geologic Assessments in the recharge zone, we took her to a
couple of our field sites to help her with some ground level input on the methods involved. We probably walked right over this cave in the process of inspecting several of the previously identified CEFs that
are nearby...no sign of it at the surface whatsoever.  It's also interesting to note that we are very lucky that the trench intersected the cave where it did. Had it done anything else but just knick the cave then it may not have been salvagable, not to mention the fact that the trencher could have taken a serious fall."

Since there was no observable cave life, Avery Ranch Cave became a potential site for an educational show cave.  While the TCC is purchasing three endangered species caves on the 4.25 acres at the TCC Headquarters site, this is the first cave to be owned outright by the conservation organization.  Over the next three months, the TCC will install an observation deck inside the cave and make additional improvements.  Your support with this effort and others is invited.

Cace day
Don't forget, Saturday, April 15, 2006, the Texas Cave Conservancy will host a public event, "CAVE DAY", in Cedar Park, Texas.  Come on out and help.  You will even get to see the latest TCC
cave acquisition.  For more information contact me.

Donna Mosesmann
TCC Director
713-777-7339
dogmos1@hotmail.com