Submitted Electronically via eRulemaking Portal

I strongly support listing the Grotto sculpin under the ESA. If you read the article and comments in the Southeast Missourian, at http://www.semissourian.com/story/1909261.html, you'll see the typical reaction about "property values." That's all some of these people care about. (I commented under my pseudonym of J.R. McLoughlin.) One of my mentors was the late Dr. George W. Moore, at one time president of the National Speleological Society, and I studied speleology as part of my degree in earth sciences. I know how fragile a cave ecosystem can be, and have done a fair amount of caving myself. People fail to realize that bats, cave fish, and others, serve as important indicator species, and are worth something in and of themselves. I also majored in archaeology for a time, and have friends who specialize in cave archaeology. That's another situation, where historical/cultural resources in this case, can be irreparably damaged by unthinking or malicious people. Those who have cave entrances, sinkholes, or other inlets on their private properties sometimes try to protect them, but often don't care, or will purposely make things worse as their stand against "the government." This is a real danger, knowing the Perry County mindset as I unfortunately do. I was a hazardous/solid waste inspector with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in the late '80s and early '90s, and one of my jobs was to stop people from dumping trash in sinkholes. State law allows for interference with "private property rights" if the landowner is causing an environmental nuisance by impacting neighboring properties, and even individuals are subject to Superfund and FIFRA laws. I made full use of that, and I urge you to work with the Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources as well as the Dept. of Conservation on cave issues. I had to write up one big old farmer who said, "my daddy dumped all his trash in the sinkhole, so why can't I?" My definition of living history isn't that flexible.