Conservation efforts at Adams Cave in Madison County, Kentucky have enabled the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove two Kentucky cave beetles from the list of candidate species for listing under the Endangered Species Act.
The greater Adams Cave beetle and lesser Adams Cave beetle are only known to live in Adams Cave in the Bluegrass Region of central Kentucky, near Richmond. First discovered in the cave in 1964, the two predatory beetles are small (3 to 5 millimeters), eyeless, reddish-brown insects that feed upon cave invertebrates such as spiders, mites, and millipedes.
Over the years, people have trespassed inside Adams Cave to camp (which is not permitted by the landowner) and conduct other illegal activities (fires, parties) that vandalized and degraded the habitats within, and surrounding the cave. Consequently, the two cave beetle species had not been found for a number of years. To compound the challenge of keeping this species alive, the cave is now in the middle of a rapidly-developing subdivision southwest of Richmond, Kentucky.
In early March 2005, the Southern Conservation Corporation -- a non-profit land trust --and the Service, signed a Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances to ensure long-term protection for Adams Cave and the two cave beetle species. The announcement was published in the Federal Register today and can be found at: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 545 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices, and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign and Native American Tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to State fish and wildlife agencies.
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