Cave Gates

What Is A Bat-Friendly Gate?

By David Foster, ACCA President & CEO

What exactly is a bat-friendly gate? Around 40 years ago, under the guidance of one of the ACCA’s founders, Roy D. Powers, Jr., the American Cave Conservation Association began working with organizations such as Bat Conservation International (BCI) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to learn how to successfully build gates to protect endangered bats living in caves.

Gate construction is more complex than you might think. Build the gate in the wrong location and you change the cave’s microclimate. A temperature change of a few degrees might make the cave unsuitable as habitat for hibernating bats. Build the gate in the wrong way and you may see predation from animals such as snakes and raccoons increase. Make the bars too wide and humans can easily squeeze through. Make the bars too narrow and bats might refuse to use the gate. Put the gate in the wrong location and flooding might cause debris to stack up against the gate and block the cave passage. Put a solid door across a cave entrance and entire colonies of bats could perish … and this actually occurred at Coach Cave, near Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky.

These and many other concerns make it important that cave gating be done in the correct manner. Over the past 4 decades, the ACCA helped to develop an industry standard for cave gates. ACCA/BCI designs are now accepted by the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, many state agencies and conservation groups across the United States.

ACCA gates are protecting a substantial percentage of America’s cave bats, and their specific impact on various species. Anyone planning on building a cave gate should consult with ACCA, Bat Conservation International, or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service before constructing it. More information can be found by checking out the Agency Guide To Cave and Mine Gates and additional resources which can be found online at CaveGators.com.