Bear Cave Preserve

Bear Cave: “Reserved”

June 18, 2020October 30, 2020 karst441

Dates reserved: (one group per day due to COVID-19: Closed for the season.

The Good News: Caving To Resume

June 15, 2020June 15, 2020 karst678

MAKC response to COVID-19: The MAKC recognizes the issues regarding COVID-19 and any impacts it may have on caves, caving, cavers, and bats. Masks, gloves, social distancing, and CDC, state, county, and local guidelines are encouraged as much as possible. Any travel restrictions are to be followed, as are the desires of landowners. Where caving […]

Bear Cave Management Plan

May 27, 2019November 18, 2019 karst2080

Bear Cave Management Plan • Cave Closed between October 15 and April 15! Enacted May 1, 2002 (Revised January 10, 2004, February 16, 2019) NOTE: Bear Cave is Now Closed October 15 – April 15 Special Note: Bear Cave Closed was in 2009 due to White Nose Syndrome. While it has been reopened, please contact […]

Bear Cave Preserve Permit Request

May 26, 2019June 12, 2019 karst706

Bear Cave Natural Area • Western PA •Open 4/15 to 10/15 • MAKC Lease • Permit Required • bearcave@karst.org Please read the management plan and mail or email a permit application to visit Bear Cave. While the permit application is below, the management plan should be read before submitting. The plan will be changing with […]

Bear Cave

May 25, 2019June 10, 2019 karst477

Bear Cave is a privately-owned cave, and always has been. It is owned and managed by cavers, Tom and Kim Metzgar, who permit visitation for those who have read the management plan and agree to abide by certain restrictions. If the owners are taking the time to manage the preserve, and to permit visitation, which […]

Bear Cave Photos

May 23, 2019June 9, 2019 karst412

2018 Beginner Trips

May 23, 2018June 10, 2019 karst364

Bear Cave beginner trips are being offered by MAKC on Memorial Day weekend and during the week of the Fourth of July, as they have been for the past several years. For additional information as the dates get closer, please contact Tom Metzgar. There is no charge (and there should never be a charge) for these trips […]

One Voice In Book Format

November 26, 2015June 9, 2019 karst379

By Kim Metzgar I had published serially our story of the fight to save Chestnut Ridge in this very newsletter over a period of time. I felt, for posterity’s sake that I should put it together in a book and in late spring/early summer I did just that. It is available in book format on […]

Bear Cave Bat Mist-Netting and Graffiti Removal

October 19, 2011June 9, 2019 karst377

October 19 On Friday, 05 August 2011, Joe Duchamp, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, asked permission for his grad student, Laura D’Acunto, to mist net bats outside Bear Cave. Always happy to encourage scientific studies, we granted permission and arranged for Joe to drive up the mountain with his students and […]

MAKC Proposal to Open Caves in 2010

October 19, 2009June 9, 2019 karst392

MISSION The Mid-Atlantic Karst Conservancy was established by Western Pennsylvania cavers in 1997 for the following purposes: • Preserving, ensuring access to, acquiring, and managing caves and karst areas for conservation, scientific study, and recreational caving. • Education of landowners, cavers, and the general public in the importance of caves and karst resources and ways […]

Bear Cave Woodrat Narrative 2007-09

February 28, 2009June 9, 2019 karst320

February 29By Joe Duchamp During the summers of 2007 through 2009, faculty members and students at Indiana University of Pennsylvania have been studying the populations of Allegheny woodrats at the Bear Cave Natural Area and surrounding areas in Westmoreland County, Pa. In the vicinity of the Bear Cave area, they trapped six separate rocky areas […]

Reprint Article 2003

March 1, 2003June 9, 2019 karst335

Link to article appearing in the Beaver County Times.

Western Pennsylvania Conservancy Buys 400 Acres Surrounding Bear Cave Parcel

June 28, 2001June 9, 2019 karst335

March 1 By Kim Metzgar Tom and I had known that we were about to finally acquire Bear Cave since early in 2001. Finally, after ten years …. Our peace of mind was shattered by a piece of mail my mother received on April 24, 2001. The letter my mother received was from McGrath & Associates, […]