Bat Cave, Lauderdale County, Alabama

September 2022

Gate Type: FLYOVER

The first cave ever recorded in the Alabama Cave Survey, Bat Cave once had a colony of over 50,000 Endangered gray bats, but the population cratered in recent years. Excessive visitation by spelunkers and “pot hunters” illegally digging for native American artifacts was the likely cause. This project presented another unique set of challenges, being almost 100 feet (30m) straight down a bluff and 200 feet (60m) above a river. Everything had to be rappelled in, attached to one of our workers. This project was featured on the cover of The Wildlife Professional. We appreciate the exposure! All photos © Jim Kennedy.

When we got to the cave we found this screen and dug holes that were left by pot hunters.
The weirdly-shaped entrance gave us some heartburn, especially an overhanging ledge on the upper right that we would deal with later.
We spread the columns as far apart as possible to allow maximum flight space.
Shane starts to take care of the offending ledge. Note that this is not normal practice, as we try to have very little impact on the cave. However, we were trying to bring back the bats. Call it accelerated erosion.
With the ledge removed, we now had an open pathway for our chute.
The finished gate from inside shows how much more flight space has been achieved above the gate.
The final gate, viewed from the outside. We couldn’t back up any further without rolling down the bluff and into the river.