To the Batcave! Celebrating Bat Week 2021

Skinner Mountain Forest

Skinner Mountain Forest provides critical habitat for several species of bats considered to be of greatest conservation need and protected through a federal or state listing. There are more than 50 caves within the entire 14,000+ acre Skinner Mountain Forest property alone, including the Mountain Eye cave system. Fentress County—where Skinner Mountain is located—happens to have the most caves where the critically imperiled Indiana bats hibernate.

In this biodiversity hotspot in northeastern Tennessee, biologists have observed the Indiana bat, the gray bat, and the Northern long-eared bat. They’ve also found tri-colored bats and little brown bats, as well as Rafinesque’s big-eared bats and eastern small-footed bats. In summertime you can also observe more common species such as the big brown bat and the eastern red bat.

Foushee Cave and Slippery Hollow Natural Areas

The Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission (ANHC) has acquired and protected land in northern Arkansas to directly benefit the habitats for both federally endangered and threatened species of bats. ANHC added 400 acres to the Foushee Cave Natural Area that provide excellent foraging habitat for the federally endangered gray and Indiana bats and federally threatened northern long-eared bat. An additional 100 acres protected at the Slippery Hollow Natural Area supports populations of federally endangered Ozark big-eared bats, as well as northern long-eared and gray bats.