Carlsbad Caverns to issue commercial use authorization program for guided caving :

[Jerry]

This was announced recently. It seems a poor idea but considering the times, it may be inevitable. More and more of our national parks appear to be open to entrepeneurs for profit. Note that Goat Cave is a known histoplasmosis locality.

Carlsbad Caverns:

CUA - Carlsbad Caverns National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

Commercial Use Authorization

Carlsbad Caverns National Park announces commercial use authorization program for guided caving. Commercial use authorizations are a permitting tool used by the National Park Service to allow private business to be conducted within a national park for a calendar year.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park will accept applications for 2026 Guided Caving CUAs beginning July 1, 2025.

Details and applications can be found on: https://www.nps.gov/cave/getinvolved/commercial-use-authorizations.htm

You may reach out to the park CUA Coordinator at cave...@nps.gov with any questions.

Jerry Atkinson.

[Mark Minton]

There are a lot of requirements and fees associated with this CUA. I have my doubts that it would be worth it, either for the guides or their potential clients. For example, it states that a CUA holder must still pay all applicable entrance fees, so his clients would have to pay enough to cover their own fee plus cover the guide's fee and salary. It will be interesting to see if anyone bites.

Mark

[Mark Ross]

I don't suppose NSS members get a discount do they?  Mark Ross bub

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[Lee Dean]

Need creative ideas…. Any way to get CUA status under some formal entity for cavers to get access to National Park caves we’ve been denied access for years? I’d be happy to pay park admission to Slaughter canyon caves. Where are our folks with radical ideas? 

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[Lee Dean]

Another thought… will there be a lottery system for private permits along with commercial permits as along the lines of river rafting?