New River Cave Nature Preserve
KEY STATS
Giles County, Virginia
2014
~7 miles
New River Cave has been a favorite of recreational cavers for nearly 70 years. The property, which has a long, but only partially documented history of use from prehistoric times to present day saw the tarnished image of a sacrificial cave fade away in the 1990s to one of a gem in the rough. Beauty and mystery, and a great day’s outing, are available for those willing to challenge the darkness.
The NSS purchased New River Cave in 2014 from Tim Kilby, who is an NSS member. In establishing this Nature Preserve, Tim’s hope to protect natural resources and ensure perpetual access were honored. Other objectives included continued documentation and scientific investigation of the geological, biological, paleontological, historical, archaeological, hydrological, and cultural resources of New River Cave, as well as management of the surface to provide both recreational and natural value.
Want to Visit?
Visitation is permitted year-round, but special caution is required for the New River Cave Preserve during bat hibernation season - October 15th through April 15th, when trips will be limited to 1 per week. Visitors must move quietly in the entrance area and are not allowed in the upper attic area.
Caver Tim Kilby purchased the property from a timber company in 1989. The title search showed recorded mining restrictions placed on the property in 1987 through 2027 (by the timber company from whom he bought the property). The deed going back to 1928 showed reserved mining and water rights in prior deeds. These rights were granted to a company long since defunct. The NSS acquired the property from Kilby in 2014.
New River Cave is home to numerous troglophiles and troglobites. New River Cave is used as a hibernaculum by at least three species of bats: the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus), the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), and the tri-colored bat (Perimyotis subflavus). Unfortunately, bats in the cave have been affected by White white-nose syndrome since 2010 as populations have seriously declined.
Cave salamanders (Eurycea lucifuga) are common near the cave entrance, and seal salamanders are present in portions of the stream passages and at the resurgence spring, which is also located on the property. Allegheny Woodrats (Neotoma magister) and their warrens have been observed near the cave entrance.
Numerous cave-adapted (troglobitic) and cave-frequenting (troglophilic and trogloxenic) invertebrates are known from the cave as documented in Holsinger et al (2013) and Holsinger and Culver (1978).
Troglobites
• Caecidotea vandeli (Vandel’s cave isopod) – a blind, aquatic crustacean
• Phanetta subterranea – a cave-adapted spider
• Pseudotremia sp. – a millipede; possibly cave obligate
• Stygobromus adbitus (James Cave amphipod)
• Stygobromus mackini – a cave-adapted amphipod
• Zygonopus packardi (Packard’s cave millipede)
Troglophiles and Trogloxenes
• Cambala annulata – a millipede
• Eidmannella pallida - a spider
• Entomobrya social – a springtail (insect)
• Euhadenocecus puteanus (cave cricket)
• Pseudosinella collina – a springtail
• Robustocheles hilli – a mite
Note:
There are likely numerous trogloxenes (e.g. daddy long-legs, red-eyed cave flies, cave crickets, cave moths) not documented here. The use of the cave by these species should be documented and incorporated into the cave data archive. Also, common troglobites such as cave beetles and diplurans are not yet documented, but are likely to be present in the cave.
Sources:
⁃ Holsinger and Culver, 1988, The Invertebrate Cave Fauna of Virginia and a Part of Eastern Tennessee: Zoogeography and Ecology, Brimleyana No. 14, page 163
⁃ Holsinger et al, 2013, The Invertebrate Cave Fauna of Virginia, Banisteria No. 42, pages 9-56.
The cave is one of a handful of caves in Virginia developed in a limestone block bounded above and below by faults. Specifically, the cave is developed in a horst (fault-bounded block) of limestone of middle Ordovician age along the Saltville Fault, overlain by the Honaker dolomite in the upper or hanging wall of the fault, and floored by the Martinsburg formation in the footwall. Strata within the cave are overturned.
The cave contains an active, perennial stream that feeds a spring.
Access to the Preserve will be administered by the Preserve Management Team. Visitation is permitted year-round, but special caution is required for the New River Cave Preserve during bat hibernation season from October 15th through April 15th. A significant number of Big Brown bats hibernate throughout the entrance section of the cave. Disturbance to hibernating bats can negatively affect populations, so visitors are cautioned not to interact with bats in any way - taking care not to touch, wake up, illuminate, or make loud noises near roosts. Specifically, visitors should move quietly and quickly from the cave entrance until arriving at the main cave passage a couple hundred feet past the register room (a sign is posted at this point). Additionally, visitation is not permitted in the upper area of the cave known as the planetarium/attic during this hibernation period, due to the presence of a small colony of endangered Little Brown Bats.
Requests for access can be made by contacting the Preserve Management Team via email at: NewRiverPreserve@caves.org with any questions.
