Post by Sharon Faulkner on Jun 2, 2006 15:53:40 GMT -5
Couple working to save endangered bats
June 02, 2006
By Kelli Gauthier
MCMINNVILLE, Tenn. — Tina and Bruce Ventura can think of no better way to spend their vacation than slogging through the mud, dragging steel beams down steep inclines and helping to build a 30-foot steel gate inside the mouth of a giant cave.
The Venturas are helping the Nature Conservancy in Tennessee to preserve one of the largest populations of endangered gray bats in the world by rebuilding a gate at the opening of Hubbard's Cave in Warren County.
The couple, from Marquette, Mich., said this isn't the first bat cave gate they've built, but it is the largest. "This isn't just any old gate-building," Ms. Ventura said. "It's famous because it's so big."
The Venturas joined a team that includes other volunteers, Nature Conservancy employees, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Speleological Society, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, the Tennessee Division of State Natural Areas, the American Cave Conservation Association, and Bat Conservation International Inc.
The gate keeps humans from entering the cave and disturbing the bats while they hibernate between September and May, said Gabrielle Call, associate state director of the Tennessee Nature Conservancy.
E-mail Kelli Gauthier at kgauthier@timesfreepress.com
www.tfponline.com/absolutenm/templates/breaking.aspx?articleid=1654&zoneid=41
See tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press for full coverage.
For photos of the old Hubbard's Cave gate and more information on the new gating process see Re-gating Hubbard's Cave.
June 02, 2006
By Kelli Gauthier
MCMINNVILLE, Tenn. — Tina and Bruce Ventura can think of no better way to spend their vacation than slogging through the mud, dragging steel beams down steep inclines and helping to build a 30-foot steel gate inside the mouth of a giant cave.
The Venturas are helping the Nature Conservancy in Tennessee to preserve one of the largest populations of endangered gray bats in the world by rebuilding a gate at the opening of Hubbard's Cave in Warren County.
The couple, from Marquette, Mich., said this isn't the first bat cave gate they've built, but it is the largest. "This isn't just any old gate-building," Ms. Ventura said. "It's famous because it's so big."
The Venturas joined a team that includes other volunteers, Nature Conservancy employees, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Speleological Society, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, the Tennessee Division of State Natural Areas, the American Cave Conservation Association, and Bat Conservation International Inc.
The gate keeps humans from entering the cave and disturbing the bats while they hibernate between September and May, said Gabrielle Call, associate state director of the Tennessee Nature Conservancy.
E-mail Kelli Gauthier at kgauthier@timesfreepress.com
www.tfponline.com/absolutenm/templates/breaking.aspx?articleid=1654&zoneid=41
See tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press for full coverage.
For photos of the old Hubbard's Cave gate and more information on the new gating process see Re-gating Hubbard's Cave.