Category: Bear Cave Preserve

Bear Cave: “Reserved”

karst511

Dates reserved: (one group per day due to COVID-19: Closed for the season. Support our cave conservation efforts with a donation. Your contribution supports our current cave acquisition fund and property management expenses. We are an all-volunteer organization. There is no “overhead” except for speleothems attached to the cave ceiling.

Continue Reading

The Good News: Caving To Resume

karst907

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 […]

Continue Reading

Bear Cave Management Plan

karst2402

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 […]

Continue Reading

Bear Cave Preserve Permit Request

karst770

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 […]

Continue Reading

Bear Cave

karst525

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 […]

Continue Reading

2018 Beginner Trips

karst427

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 […]

Continue Reading

One Voice In Book Format

karst434

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 […]

Continue Reading

MAKC Proposal to Open Caves in 2010

karst443

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 […]

Continue Reading

Bear Cave Woodrat Narrative 2007-09

karst373

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 […]

Continue Reading