The Illinois Audubon Society announced the purchase of 44.5 acres in Monroe County to protect the groundwater recharge basin which drains into the Fogelpole Cave Nature Preserve off G Road north of Renault.

Fogelpole Cave, owned by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, is the largest cave in Illinois and 51st largest in the nation. 

Unique to the Fogelpole Cave are populations of the Illinois cave amphipod (Gammarus acherondytes), a small shrimp-like animal that exists only in Monroe County and found nowhere else on the planet. 

The cave also hosts the state- and federally-endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) as a wintering hibernacula and summer maternity roost, while the gray bat (Myotis grisescens) has been documented using the cave as a summer habitat.

The property lies adjacent to the 535-acre Paul Wightman Subterranean Nature Preserve, which is protected and managed by Clifftop.

“Protection of land for conservation purposes is often built on partnerships. Illinois Audubon Society stepped up on short notice to seize an opportunity to contribute to the conservation of the premier cave system in Illinois: Fogelpole Cave. The conservation community and the citizens of Illinois are the benefactors of the work done by Illinois Audubon on many fronts, including land protection,” said Illinois Nature Preserves Commission Executive Director Todd Strole. 

The Paul Wightman Subterranean Nature Preserve was purchased by Clifftop in 2013 to also protect the recharge basin and has been restored to shortgrass prairie, with woods and wooded sinkholes.

“Protecting the Fogelpole Cave watershed is extremely important to Clifftop. We are appreciative that the Illinois Audubon Society was able to come to the table to help protect this Southern Illinois treasure. We look forward to partnering with them to protect the cave as they become neighbors to our own Paul Wightman Subterranean Nature Preserve,” Clifftop President Jared Nobbe said.