Yell Cave - Bat Protection Project

Yell Cave Bat Protection Project

HR³ Members Help Protect an endangered Myotis Grisescens Maternity Colony

( Preserve, Conserve and Protect )

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UPDATE! Bat Protection seems to be working! The Southeastern Bat Diversity Network (SBDN) recommends that the status of the federally endangered gray bat (Myotis Grisescens) be changed to federally threatened.

Links:

Gray Bat Status Recommendation.

View BCI's Distribution Map for Grey Bats

The Cave Conservation & Management Section of the NSS

Southeastern Regional Associations' Karst Task Force (SKTF)

SERA Karst Task Force Discussion List

This is Privately Owned land! Advance permission is required before visitation.

TRESPASSERS will be dealt with accordingly.

During summer months (April through September) female grey bats form maternity colonies. Grey bats sometime migrate to caves where each female bat raises one pup per year. But bats also are known to roost in crevices in the bark of trees, hollow trees, in the attics of buildings, in mines, in chimneys, abandoned buildings and also in bat houses.

So that the maternity colony can raise their young, Yell Cave is closed to human visitation during the month's of April 1st - September 31st of each year. Contact the landowner before going on her property for permission to visit. The spring is the landowner's as well as local drinking water supply therefore advance permission has to be obtained before any visit is planned.

A Bit of Survey History

HR³ began the survey and mapping of Yell Cave on the eighth day of September 1996 after obtaining the landowners permission. [The landowner and Lynn Roebuck were classmates in grade school] Before we began our survey efforts Yell Cave #1 was known to contain approximately 550 feet of unsurveyed passage and Yell Cave # 2 contained approximately 240 feet of unsurveyed passage. These two caves were eventually connected during the survey of the cave. In the fall of 1996 we began the survey of Yell Cave #1's strolling borehole! Survey efforts went along well till one night during the survey we encountered a large colony of Myotis Grisescens (grey bats) in October. From Fall of 1996 through Spring of 1997 Don Lance, Brian Roebuck and Lynn Roebuck contacted every agency and person that we could find to obtain information that would help us identify the bats. After a lot of contact, emails and phone calls between several agencies a preliminary site visit was made to the cave on Saturday the 29th day of March 1997. David Withers, John Lamb, and met Brian and Lynn for a closer looks at the bats. David Withers and Hill Henry pointed out and explained the guano piles, ceiling stains and clusters of bats. (Grey bats cluster in groups.) We saw several hundred bats that day and David agreed we had indeed found a grey bat colony. At this point we halted our survey and mapping of the cave so we would not disturb the colony.

After more contact between all the concerned parties, on June 17, 1997 David Withers, John Lamb, Hill Henry, Beth Guidera, Bob Currie, Brian Roebuck and Lynn Roebuck gathered together for an outflight count of the bats. An estimate of the historic and current bat population was approximately 4,500 bats. And a futher inventory of the cave was conducted after the bats left the cave for their evening feeding of insects.

The Yell Cave mapping project leader, Marbry Hardin stated that the Yell Cave Survey is finished as of January 2000! Unless someone wants to manufacture more cave? The project took approximately 3.5 years to complete the survey of the 10,000+ foot cave. The long length of time used to survey was due to team members not entering the cave from April – September while the bat colony was present. The bats do not enter the cave from September – March. In 2001 the species appears to be growing and no negative impacts seems to have occured from the protective fence that was placed around the sinkhole. The fence also protects the landowners drinking water supply therefore tourist trips are kept to a minimum.

Seldom do some members of HR³get involved in fence building (we are a cave survey team ). But then again we did not know a colony of endangerd grey bats had moved into Yell Cave. The landowner wishes to continue protective efforts the bats in her cave as well as protection of her groundwater supply.

So on Saturday the 21st day of September with the landowner's help and permission, plans were made to erect a fence at Yell Cave under the direction of TNC. Brian Roebuck, Karen Carr, Drew Irwin, and I met Gabby Call, Beth Guidera, Tara Thompson and Chris Roberts at Tullahoma's Christopher Equipment at 8:30 a.m. to begin our day of work by pick up needed equipment. A jack hammer was top priority for today's adventure.

It was a typically a wonderful Tennessee fall day for a project "HOT"! But we all endured knowing that down below the landowners were busy preparing a nice feast and bonfire for us. They were also nice enough to clear a trail closer to the cave so we would not have to hand carry all the material and equipment. That was great considering the cement alone for the project weighed 2500 pounds! Yes it is nice to have good landowners!

Just after we began David Yoest arrived to help but he had to leave at 2:30 he warned. We measured the area for the post holes again and marked the places where the posts would be. Brian, Chris, and David began the hard job of jack-hammering through the limestone to make the postholes. Gabby, Beth, Tara, Karen, Drew, and I began by unloading fence materials. Then we measured and used hack-saws to cut all the pipe to the needed lengths. We later carried all the measured pipes down hill and across the ravine to the area. Marbry Hardin arrived after attending the TCS meeting in Cookeville in the early afternoon to help with the fence. Marbry and heavy equipment have a bond like no other! He quickly began helping the jack-hammer team. Brian Roebuck used a chain saw and cleared a short 4 wheel drive trail to the cave. This was great for hauling all the concrete! A bit later Don and Denver Cole arrived for the bonfire. They hadn't planned to help with the fence but soon pitched in and began helping. By approximately 3:00 that evening others arrived including Ray Pope, Daniel Wright, Robert Brasier, and James Taylor. Around that time Gabby decided since the first team was exhausted it was time to call it a day. Volunteers were consulted and a date was set to return and workon the project the next weekend. We cleaned up the area and loaded remaining equipment and materials. And Granny was nice enough to let us use her barn for storage.

We then headed for the bonfire and awaiting foods! If you don't have good landowner relations you will never know how nice it can be! The food was great and the fire warm! Other area landowners were there and now HR³ has even more cave survey work to do in the county! Marbry Hardin was kind enough to bring an impressive updated map of the cave. Later Robert Brasier had a slide show of many local caves the main feature being Yell Cave. It was a great day filled with a lot of hard work, sweat, good friends, good food, and wonderful landowners. Note:”And now you know where Rob Robbins got that catchy phrase he uses.”

Sunday the 27th of September the volunteer crew began to assemble at Yell Cave approximately 9:15 a.m. and loaded materials into the waiting trucks to haul to the cave. The day was already getting hot!! The volunteers who turned out were numerous and are listed below: Gabby Call, Beth Guidera and Connie Ramsey from TNC. HR3 Members Marbry Hardin, Daniel Wright, Karen Carr, Brian and I (Lynn) Roebuck, and Ray Pope Jr., Southport Chronic Cavers Grotto Member and the NSS/TNC Liaison Committee person Rob Robbins (came to take photos of the project). John and Debbie Hettish, Ray Pope Sr, and Drew Irwin from the TCB. Also Don Cole and Denver Cole came to lend a hand and volunteer.

We also had a visit from Brian Woffard and several students in the Web School's Outer Limits Program. The students were led into the entrance sink for a brief introduction about the cave, bats, the NSS, HR³, the conservation, and protection of the endangered grey bats that inhabit the cave during summer month’s and Marbry spoke to the students about the Geology of caves and how caves are formed before they had to leave.

The fence poles we had been erected a week earlier were ready to attach chain link fence. We hauled the tools and supplies up the trail to the cave while Brian used his Bronco to carry material across the rough trail to the top of the entrance of Yell Cave. Here we unloaded the generator and other heavy items. Later he hauled two bales of chain link above the cave then drove back across the rough trail. As Brian tells it “a sudden loud " bang" awoke him from his thoughts as he glanced in the rear view to see oily fluid on the stump he had just driven over. Brian stopped and found the bottom of his transfer case lying on the ground. A few ($*&*#*@*&*# ) words were noted. (Vehicle damage is not reimbursed by TNC during their protection projects if you use your vehicle)

More folks showed up and soon the area was buzzing with activity. We began topping the poles. John Hettish had the great idea for some slings to rig to the posts while cutting the tops. They were used like prussik knots and worked very well.

The rest of us began to assemble the horizontal post between the vertical posts. Unfortunately the various hardware items required for completing the fence seemed to be "missing." We scrambled for ideas and searched the boxes for the right hardware. It soon became clear that the supplier's did not giveus enough hardware to finish the fence. All the volunteers in the world couldn't help us get fence parts on a Sunday morning. So we improvised. We took some things apart and cannibalized parts. We erected the top rails of the fence frame to get something to attach fence to and leave the bottom for later. Gabby, Beth and Connie headed out to search every hardware supplier in the area. The volunteers started to stretch fence on one side under John Hettish's direction while others finished various assemblies all around the fence structure. Wouldn’t you know John picked the absolute toughest spot to stretch fence! The terrain was rugged, the posts not in line, and the hill sloped in many directions. He had to rig to many different places to pull the fence tight as Marbry and others helped get it fitted in place.

Many folks came out to help and we had no shortage of volunteers. Some of them even managed to take a short but well deserved sightseeing trip into the cave. The purpose of the trip was to check for the presence of bats and reward some of those that worked so hard last week. As expected - no bats were seen in the cave. By the time they emerged and removed cave gear we decided to try to put up more chain link on the other side. While John and Marbry tried to get the upper hand on the problem corner of the fence. volunteers unrolled a roll of chain link and stood it up along the straightest and easiest side. We attached and stretched it out as we went and soon had another roll ready to weave together and stretch around the unusual shaped corners. We stretched that roll across the top row of poles and weaved it in with the last roll of fence after man and woman handling this fourth roll across the ravine to the cave. Eventually we tied the two fence sections together and began to clean up our tools. We did not get the barbed wire in place at the top and the bottom fence supports were not there yet. But we did get a lockable fence erected! It will take one more day of work to complete the fence assuming we get the parts we need. The great landowners had yet another feast for us of grilled hamburgers, hotdog and all the trimmings at the end of another long hot day of manual labor.

Ah yes, the last work day began with thunder, lightning, rain and yet more rain! The greatest challenge of the day was trying to get two wheel drive vehicles up the trail to the cave. Only two out of the original five made it! The rain quickly made the mud path slick and impassable for normal trucks. The crew for the day included Beth Guidera and Chris Roberts (TNC) Denver Cole, Ray Pope Sr., Ray Pope, John Hettish, Brian Roebuck and Lynn Roebuck. The first order of business was to set up a tarp to keep the rain off the tools and provide a dry break area. Of course - as soon as the tarp was in place the rain began to pour down! Many of the volunteer's were speaking "mutiny" both out loud and below their breaths. But we all pitched in and began to work on the fence. Basically all that was left to complete the fence was cutting posts, clamping chain link, installing bottom braces and putting up barb wire But the real challenge was carrying out this work while slipping and sliding on the uneven muddy terrain. It was similar to being in a cave - but NOT even as much fun! One of the landowners felt sorry for us so Granny made home made country ham biscuits and delivered them to the site! (Yummy!) We worked along steadily and before we knew it the fence was completed! We gathered our tools, tarps, extra materials, and hauled them up the hill to the vehicles. Beth and Chris had a TNC Banquet to attend so they left promptly to get ready for the evening's event.

John and Ray decided to take a trip into the cave but were greeted by bats. So they exited the cave immediately. No bats were noted in the cave on Sunday or on Wednesday. Today they were in Yell Cave again. What’s up with that? We then headed down to the landowners house and were treated to a terrific spaghetti supper! Great landowners!

All the volunteer's who helped were presented a "Certificate of Appreciation" for volunteering their time and hard work on the protection project. Thanks to the following people who helped. Drew Irwin, Marbry Hardin, John and Debbie Hettish, David Yoest, Daniel Wright, Karen Carr, Ray Pope Jr., Gabby Call, Beth Guidera, Tara Thompson, and Chris Roberts, Robert Brasier, Denver Cole, Don Cole, James Taylor, Connie Ramsey, and Ray Pope Sr., and of course our Thanks to the landowners!

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