[§6D-1]  Definitions.  As used in this
chapter:



"Board" means the board of
land and natural resources.



"Cave" means any naturally
occurring void, cavity, recess, or system of interconnected passages large
enough for human entry, occurring beneath the surface of the earth or within a
cliff or ledge, including the cave resources therein, whether or not an
entrance exists or is natural or artificial, and that is of archaeological,
geological, biological, or cultural significance.  The term includes such forms
as a lava tube, natural pit, sinkhole, underwater cave, or other feature that
is an extension of the entrance.



"Cave life" means any living
native plant, animal, fungus, or microorganism occurring naturally in caves or
in cave entrances or entrance pits.



"Cave resource" means any
material or substance occurring in caves, such as native animal life, native
plant life, evidence of past human use over fifty years old, and tangible and
intangible attributes associated with cultural traditions over fifty years old,
paleontological deposits, sediments, minerals, speleogens, and speleothems. 
This includes historic properties as defined in chapter 6E.



"Commercial entry" means an
activity undertaken to exhibit a cave for which compensation is received by any
person for goods, services, or both, rendered to customers or participants in
that use or activity.  Commercial entry includes activities whose base of
operations are outside the boundaries of the premises, or provide
transportation to or from the premises.  Any person receiving compensation in
conjunction with a use or activity who seeks to qualify as noncommercial shall
have the burden of establishing to the satisfaction of the department that the
fee or charge is strictly a sharing of actual expenses of the use or activity. 
A not-for-profit organization that charges only a nominal fee to cover
administrative costs and conducts a use or activity at a frequency or magnitude
that does not significantly contribute to the degradation of the cave and its
resources is not conducting a commercial entry.



"Construction context" means all
permitted land-altering activities necessary to construct any and all manner of
improvements on the surface of a property including but not limited to
foundations, basements, roads, and buildings.  The term also means all
permitted land-altering activities necessary to construct subsurface tunnels
for highways and utilities.



"Department" means the
department of land and natural resources.



"Educational purposes" means
entrance into a cave by faculty or staff and students of recognized educational
institutions for the purpose of education relating to some aspect of the cave,
including but not restricted to cave geology, mineralogy, hydrology, biology,
archaeology, paleontology, management, and hazards.



"Gate" means any structure or
device located to limit, control, or prohibit access to, or entry to, any
portion of a cave.



"Owner" means the persons who
hold title to or are in possession of the land on or under which a cave is
located, or the persons' lessee or agent.  The term also includes an agency
that holds title to, manages, or controls public land on or under which a cave
is located.



"Paleontological deposit"
means any remains or fossils of life forms or surface debris that are over
fifty years of age and provide a record of past climates and biota.



"Person" shall be as defined
in section 1-19.



"Scientific purposes" means
research, or exploration, or both, conducted by persons affiliated with
recognized scientific organizations with the intent to advance knowledge and to
publish the results of exploration or research in an appropriate medium.



"Speleogen" means relief
features on the walls, ceiling, or floor of any cave.



"Speleothem" means any
secondary natural mineral formation or deposit occurring in a cave, including
any stalactite, stalagmite, helictite, cave flower, flowstone, concretion,
drapery, rimstone, or formation of clay or other sediment. [L 2002, c 241, pt
of §2]