Officials have a new message for anyone who wants to throw parties in central Oregon’s beloved caves: Don’t do it.

New regulations proposed by the Deschutes National Forest aim to protect the sensitive underground environments by more carefully restricting what people are allowed to do in and around them.

Existing rules outlaw several activities inside the roughly 700 caves managed by the national forest, including camping, smoking, drinking, operating internal combustion engines and leaving behind any human body waste.

The proposed rules would amend the existing regulations to ban all of those activities within 200 feet of any cave entrance or opening, while also tacking on a number of additional restrictions.

Those new restrictions would include lighting fires of any kind, digging or excavating, playing music (live or recorded), releasing substances like glitter or dust into the air, slacklining, and depositing animal waste inside or near the entrance of a cave.

Proposed restrictions would also close Skeleton Cave year-round and extend existing seasonal closures at several other popular spots, including Skylight Cave and Arnold Ice Cave.

Kassidy Kern, spokeswoman for the Deschutes National Forest, said all of the proposed restrictions stem from real problems that happen at Oregon caves.

“There are caves that have unfortunately become what amounts to a party cave,” Kern said. “As you can imagine, these caves are sensitive environments.”

Fires, loud music, graffiti and vandalism are serious problems that have been actively threatening not only the geologic formations, but also the wildlife and cultural resources like petroglyphs, she said.

Adding rules that explicitly prohibit those behaviors would help the U.S. Forest Service issue citations in the future.

Kern said the forest service doesn’t anticipate much pushback from the public on the proposed changes. Some people have already voiced concerns that the new rules amount to a slippery slope that could lead to a ban on all public use of caves, she said, but she was adamant that the goal is only to stop the inappropriate and damaging behavior that’s already going on.

“We want people to continue to explore these caves, but we want them to also recognize that they are visitors to these caves,” Kern said.

READ MORE: 10 caves in Oregon for an underground adventure

Those who explore caves in a safe and responsible manner can discover beautiful new worlds underground, like the stunning natural phenomenon that occurs at Skylight Cave near Sisters.

Of course, anyone who enters a cave in Oregon needs to take certain precautions. Aside from abiding by seasonal closures to protect hibernating bat populations, people also need to make sure they’re not bringing in spores that spread the deadly white-nose syndrome among bat populations.

The easiest way to avoid that is to not bring anything into the cave that has been in any other cave in the last year – including clothing, hiking boots, cell phones and camera gear. You can also decontaminate any items at home, following steps laid out at whitenosesyndrome.org.

The public comment period will be open through April 2. Anyone can submit a comment by email at comments-pacificnorthwest-deschutes@usda.gov or by mail to: Holly Jewkes (Forest Supervisor), Deschutes National Forest, c/o Sasha Fertig, 63095 Deschutes Market Road, Bend, OR 97701.

--Jamie Hale; jhale@oregonian.com; 503-294-4077; @HaleJamesB

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