Re: Photo of the new gate at the NSS owned Trout Cave
Posted: Dec 7, 2008 9:29 pm
I’m a member of the Management Committee for the John Guilday Caves Nature Preserve, which includes Trout Cave. I was involved in much of the planning and decision making for the Trout Cave gate. Ernie Coffman suggested that I try to clarify some of the points brought up recently about the gate.
1. The gate was installed to protect the cave’s small, but growing, population of endangered Indiana bats. I wrote a paper explaining the situation and it is available at
www.caves.org/grotto/dcg/bat-counts/why-gate-trout.pdf. The graph in the paper shows the dramatic population increase that prompted the decision to gate the cave.
2. The purpose of the gate is to provide peace and quiet for the bats, not to prevent vandalism. Actually, despite very heavy traffic, there has been very little graffiti or vandalism in Trout since the NSS purchased the cave and cleaned up most of the old graffiti in the 1980s.
3. The construction of the Trout gate was not related in any way to the WNS problem that is ongoing. The increase in the Indiana bat population was first seen in 2005, which is before the WNS situation was noticed.
4. The gate is located right at the drip line to make it hard for folks to camp in the entrance. Placing the gate further inside the cave would have been easier (and cheaper), but there have been multiple instances in the past where groups camped in the entrance. Having a campfire in the entrance would obviously not be good for the bats and the gate location essentially eliminates the entrance as a camping location.
6. The gate will be locked from Labor Day until May 15 (the normal period for winter closures in West Virginia). The gate will be locked open during the summer months and the cave will be open to unrestricted visitation.
7. Most of the funding for the gate came from the Federal and West Virginia governments, not from the NSS. The gating project was actually a pretty impressive cooperative project involving cavers and multiple government agencies.
I hope this helps clarify things.
Bob Hoke
1. The gate was installed to protect the cave’s small, but growing, population of endangered Indiana bats. I wrote a paper explaining the situation and it is available at
www.caves.org/grotto/dcg/bat-counts/why-gate-trout.pdf. The graph in the paper shows the dramatic population increase that prompted the decision to gate the cave.
2. The purpose of the gate is to provide peace and quiet for the bats, not to prevent vandalism. Actually, despite very heavy traffic, there has been very little graffiti or vandalism in Trout since the NSS purchased the cave and cleaned up most of the old graffiti in the 1980s.
3. The construction of the Trout gate was not related in any way to the WNS problem that is ongoing. The increase in the Indiana bat population was first seen in 2005, which is before the WNS situation was noticed.
4. The gate is located right at the drip line to make it hard for folks to camp in the entrance. Placing the gate further inside the cave would have been easier (and cheaper), but there have been multiple instances in the past where groups camped in the entrance. Having a campfire in the entrance would obviously not be good for the bats and the gate location essentially eliminates the entrance as a camping location.
6. The gate will be locked from Labor Day until May 15 (the normal period for winter closures in West Virginia). The gate will be locked open during the summer months and the cave will be open to unrestricted visitation.
7. Most of the funding for the gate came from the Federal and West Virginia governments, not from the NSS. The gating project was actually a pretty impressive cooperative project involving cavers and multiple government agencies.
I hope this helps clarify things.
Bob Hoke