Key Cave National Wildlife Refuge
| Key Cave National Wildlife Refuge | |
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IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
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| Location | Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States |
| Nearest city | Florence, Alabama |
| Coordinates | 34°45′07″N 87°46′57″W / 34.75205°N 87.782478°WCoordinates: 34°45′07″N 87°46′57″W / 34.75205°N 87.782478°W |
| Area | 1,060 acres (4.3 km2) |
| Established | 1997 |
| Visitors | 6000 (in 2005) |
| Governing body | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service |
| Website | Key Cave NWR |
Key Cave National Wildlife Refuge is a 1,060 acre (4.3 km2) National Wildlife Refuge located in northwestern Alabama, along the Tennessee River downstream from Florence, Alabama. Additional purchases are under negotiation which will increase the size of the refuge to 1,800 acres (7.3 km2).
More than 6,000 visitors per year visit the refuge. The facility is unstaffed, but is administered by the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge in Decatur, Alabama.
Two caves, Key Cave and Collier Cave, lie within the refuge, approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) apart. Both caves are closed to the public. Each is on the northern shore of Pickwick Lake on the Tennessee River. The area also contains several sinkholes and underground cave systems, including a 38-acre (150,000 m2) sinkhole lake. The sinkholes and cave systems provide a source of groundwater for the caves. The refuge is set up to minimize the pollution of this groundwater.
The land suffers from severe erosion due to the extensive farming in the area. A restoration of the land to native warm season grasses and mixed hardwoods is underway in order to protect the cave groundwater area. Approximately 338 acres (1.4 km2) of the land is used for corn and soybean production under a Cooperative Farm Agreement. Fields of warm season grasses such as big bluestem (Andropogon gerardi), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans), sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula), switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), and eastern gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides) cover 260 acres (1.1 km2) of land. 122 acres (0.49 km2) of hardwood forest has been planted to help control the erosion. There are an additional 30 acres (120,000 m2) of erosion drainages which are being converted to grassland or hedgerow habitat, 16 acres (65,000 m2) being used as shallow water areas, and 256 acres (1.04 km2) of hardwood forests consisting primarily of oak and hickory trees.
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