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The Nature Conservancy Purchases Bellamy Cave

Cave shelters federally endangered Gray bat nursery

Nashville, TN—9 February 2006—The Nature Conservancy has purchased Bellamy Cave, one of the most critical bat nurseries in the state.

The Montgomery County cave serves as a year-round home for the federally endangered gray bats. In the winter, 126,000 bats hibernate in the cave with 50,000 to 100,000 spending their summer months here. Indiana bats, also federally endangered, were also found at the cave.

The Conservancy was able to purchase the cave with the help of a private donor and a grant from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The cave and 34 acres will be transferred to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency for ownership and management as an endangered species sanctuary.

Bellamy Cave is also home to the blind crayfish and a rare beetle called Coleman Cave Beetle, which has only been found in three caves in Tennessee. Historically, the cave was mined for saltpeter during the Civil War.

The gray bat may be on the rebound. The Nature Conservancy is working with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and groups like Bat Conservation International to determine if the gray bat population is healthy enough to be removed from the endangered species list.

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The Nature Conservancy is a leading international, nonprofit organization that preserves plants, animals and natural communities representing the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 14 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 83 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific.  In Tennessee, we have helped protect more than 200,000 acres.  Visit us on the Web at nature.org/Tennessee.