“You can’t just run up and weld it shut, what if someone is already inside? Besides, if someone goes in... that’s their fault. It’s the wilderness, not Disneyland”
I agree, perhaps it’s a training opportunity for Search and Rescue? It’s not exactly wilderness with a forest service road coming within 30 yards of it. Still, it needs to be at least fenced off immediately. Who is liable?
I spent a few good years prospecting and can tell you mine shafts are by no means rare, there are thousands of them open out there. Who is liable? The gool that blunders in without proper preparation and tools. Nobody else.
As to making it a big project to protect bats, that’s asinine. The mine shaft is not a “natural feature” so by their own standards preservationists should just close the shaft.
The opening on any mine is the most unstable point, so collapsing the mouth or face of the shaft is the best way to close it. A few sticks of dynamite at the roof peak will do 5he trick, and if the bats are your focus, leave a foot wide hole at the top.
30 years ago forestry was very effective at this. Today they are crotch gazers trained on alphabet sexuality instead of how to operate a shovel.
Socialism makes soy boys out of women...