Sauta Cave National Wildlife Refuge
Encyclopedia
Sauta Cave National Wildlife Refuge is a 264 acre (1.1 km²) National Wildlife Refuge
National Wildlife Refuge
National Wildlife Refuge is a designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the world's premiere system of public lands and waters set aside to conserve America's fish, wildlife and plants...
located in northeastern Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, near the Sauty Creek embayment of Guntersville Lake
Guntersville Lake
Guntersville Lake is located in north Alabama between Bridgeport and Guntersville. Created by Guntersville Dam along the Tennessee River, it stretches 75 miles from Guntersville Dam to Nickajack Dam...
.
More than 5,000 visitors per year visit the refuge. The facility is unstaffed, but is administered by the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge
Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge
The Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge is a 35,000 acre National Wildlife Refuge located along the Tennessee River near Decatur, Alabama...
in Decatur, Alabama
Decatur, Alabama
Decatur is a city in Limestone and Morgan Counties in the U.S. state of Alabama. The city, affectionately known as "The River City", is located in Northern Alabama on the banks of Wheeler Lake, along the Tennessee River. It is the largest city and county seat of Morgan County...
. The cave itself is closed to the public.
History
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
natives mined the soil to make saltpeter
Potassium nitrate
Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the formula KNO3. It is an ionic salt of potassium ions K+ and nitrate ions NO3−.It occurs as a mineral niter and is a natural solid source of nitrogen. Its common names include saltpetre , from medieval Latin sal petræ: "stone salt" or possibly "Salt...
for gunpowder. Saltpeter mining continued on occasion across the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
, and the American Civil War. Sauta Cave was one of the largest saltpeter mines operated during the Civil War. Remains of the mining exists in the form of a wooden railroad and large iron kettles; the mining tunnels are now referred to as "The Catacombs".
In 1819, the year Alabama was admitted to the Union, Jackson County, Alabama
Jackson County, Alabama
Jackson County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. Its name is in honor of Andrew Jackson, general in the United States Army and President of the United States of America. As of 2010, the population was 53,227. The county seat is Scottsboro. Jackson County is a prohibition or dry county,...
, became a county with the county seat at Sauta. Court was held in Sauta Cave.
A building near the entrance to the cave was used as a fishing store and night club from 1919 to 1956, with a dance area near one of the entrances to take advantage of the cool wind exiting the cave. In 1962, a local National Guard unit prepared the cave for use as a fallout shelter
Fallout shelter
A fallout shelter is an enclosed space specially designed to protect occupants from radioactive debris or fallout resulting from a nuclear explosion. Many such shelters were constructed as civil defense measures during the Cold War....
.
In 1978, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is a federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats...
acquired the property to protect the endangered Indiana
Indiana bat
The Indiana bat is a medium-sized mouse-eared bat native to North America. It lives primarily in eastern and midwestern states and in parts of the south of the United States. The Indiana bat is gray, black, or chestnut in colour and is 1.2–2 inches and weighs about 1/4 an ounce...
and gray bat
Gray Bat
Myotis grisescens once flourished in caves all over the southeastern United States, but due to human disturbance, Gray Bat populations declined severely during the early and mid portion of the 20th century. At one cave alone, the Georgetown Cave in Northwestern Alabama, populations declined from...
s. The site was originally named the Blowing Wind Cave National Wildlife Refuge. Access to the cave was restricted to scientific research on the bats. In 1999, it was renamed to its current name of Sauta Cave National Wildlife Refuge.
Wildlife
The Sauta Cave NWR protects several endangered species of bat include the grayGray Bat
Myotis grisescens once flourished in caves all over the southeastern United States, but due to human disturbance, Gray Bat populations declined severely during the early and mid portion of the 20th century. At one cave alone, the Georgetown Cave in Northwestern Alabama, populations declined from...
and Indiana bat
Indiana bat
The Indiana bat is a medium-sized mouse-eared bat native to North America. It lives primarily in eastern and midwestern states and in parts of the south of the United States. The Indiana bat is gray, black, or chestnut in colour and is 1.2–2 inches and weighs about 1/4 an ounce...
s. In the summer of 1997, more than 200,000 gray bats were counted at the cave. Other species that live in the cave include the Tennessee cave salamander
Tennessee Cave Salamander
The Tennessee Cave Salamander is a species of salamander in the Plethodontidae family.It is endemic to the United States.Its natural habitats are inland karsts and caves.It is threatened by habitat loss.-References:...
(Gyrinophilus palleucus), the Rafinesque's big-eared bat
Rafinesque's Big-eared Bat
The Rafinesque's Big-Eared Bat is a species of vesper bat in the Vespertilionidae family that occurs in the southeastern United States, and the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio....
(Corynorhinus rafinesquii), and the cave salamander
Cave salamander
The Spotted-tail Salamander is a species of cave salamander.-Distribution:This species is found in Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Oklahoma and Kansas.-Identification:...
(Eurycea lucifuga). The refuge also contains the federally endangered Price's potato bean.
Facilities
A top activity is the viewing of the bats emerging from the cave during the summer. For about an hour at dusk, approximately 250,000 bats leave the cave to search for food. A viewing platform has been constructed to facilitate the viewing of the bats.