Hellhole UPDATE! Feb. 2001 a report from the closed meeting held with Greer and government reps to discuss permit renewal The Issue Endangered Species Facts Letters to WV DEP in defense of Hellhole Images from Hellhole 45% of the estimated 20,000 remaining Virginia Big-Eared Bats hibernate in Hellhole. Photo credit: Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation International.

Sunlight penetrates the entrance room of what is possibly the most important bat cave east of the Mississippi River.

Looking west, from the crest of North Fork Mountain, Hellhole's entrance shaft (approximately under red dot) with historic Greer Lime Co. quarry operations in the background (pale deforested area). Photo credit: Gordon Brace, Germany Valley Karst Survey.

Greer Lime Co., as required by the WV DEP, has announced their intent for a permit renewal for their existing permit. This permit is for the property just west of Hellhole Cave .