Extreme ecology

As you read this, John Lane and Ralph Cutter could be being eaten by cannibals.

The pair, part of a group called Subterranean Explorers, left Chico on Jan. 20, bound for an unmapped, unexplored area of Papua New Guinea, off the coast of Australia that has twice seen its capital city destroyed by volcanic eruptions.

These environmental scientists had little idea what to expect on their “reconnaissance mission,” the first in what they hope will be two visits to the island, designed to gather film footage, discover animal species and ultimately secure environmental protections for the region as they were able to do in earlier trips to Borneo and Sumatra.

Cutter grinned as he talked about maps he’s seen of the mountains the team plans to explore: “There’s a big white spot on it that says ‘obscured by clouds,'” he said. “No one knows what’s there.

“It’s the essence of discovery. We’re going into an area where we don’t even know if there are indigenous people or not,” Cutter said. “The idea of going into a completely unexplored area is exciting.”

Anthropologists report that the Papua New Guinea culture, where natives speak more than 800 languages, is so diverse that cannibalism has been a component of the Korowai tribe in recent history.

Ideally, the journey would result in the Nakanai Mountains receiving an official historic designation, which would protect them from commercial intrusions such as logging and mining. “We’re hoping we can draw some attention to them,” Lane said.

The explorers’ trip to Borneo, in 1996, resulted in the creation of a national park, and a few years later, parts of Sumatra were named conservation areas. In Sumatra, where tiger poaching is prevalent, the explorers drew attention to the problem simply by having the media there. There are fewer than 600 tigers left on the island, and Cutter said someone even tried to sell him one.

If the trip ends up on television, film or National Geographic magazine, like their previous adventures, that’s just a bonus.

Joining the party is filmmaker Gordon Brown, who captured the earlier projects. His movies have ended up on television and in theaters, including the 2001 IMAX documentary Journey Into Amazing Caves, narrated by Liam Neeson.

Adam Bodine, a partner in earlier expeditions with a nonprofit called Geo Specialists, died in July 2001 while extreme inner tubing in the Feather River’s whitewater rapids.

Cutter, an author and expert on fish, reptile and amphibian species, is from Nevada City, while geologist Lane runs Chico Environmental Science and Planning, a consulting firm in downtown Chico. Lane also serves on the Butte County Water Commission.

The explorers approached Sierra Nevada Brewing Company owner Ken Grossman, who had funded their Sumatra trip, and he agreed to help with the New Guinea project. Downtown business investor Kelly Meagher later offered some supplementary funds.

“This one is also conservation-based,” Lane said of the latest venture.

On each of their trips, the explorers have discovered new species, collecting insects, fish and amphibians and sending them off to be catalogued by experts. In Borneo, they logged more than 500 newly discovered species, including a frog that baffled experts because its closest biologist relative lived far away in Asia. Underground rivers in caves often yield the most exciting finds.

With a rainfall averaging 400 inches a year, the forests of Papua New Guinea are likely home to thousands of species.

This time, Cutter is hoping to find and report on the black bass, reputed to be the darkest fish in existence. “It gets up to 50 pounds; it lives in fresh water,” said Cutter, who is also a fly-fishing guide. “It snaps a 30-pound line.”

While this trip won’t focus on caves as much as Subterranean Explorers’ past travels, it’s likely they will end up underground. “You know there’s species there,” Cutter said. “They’ll disappear before you even know they’re there.”

Another of their goals is to attempt to follow the path of an American soldier whose P38 was shot down during World War II, landing him in the same jungle, where native people saved his life.

The party planned to fly into Kimbe, New Guinea on the isle of New Britain, first meeting with outfitters and government officials. It’s a trip they’d originally planned four years ago, but the embassy changed the conditions of their permit, throwing a wrench into the works.

After that, they will take a helicopter over the Nakanai Mountains. “The idea is to have the helicopter put us down in the jungle,” Lane said. There, they’d be out of reach of even satellite phones. They planned to spend a week or two getting “the lay of the land,” returning to the States in three weeks.

“Then we’ll go back and do it on a larger scale,” Lane said.