Environment
The Lava River Cave is located 12 miles (19 kilometer) south of Bend on the east side of Highway 97. It is part of the Newberry National Volcanic Monument, which is managed by the Forest Service as part of the Deschutes National Forest.
The forest surrounding the cave entrance is dominated by large ponderosa pine trees with sagebrush, manzanita, bitterbrush, snowbrush, and chokecherries as the main ground cover. Along the short path leading from the forest floor down to the cave entrance, visitor will also find serviceberry, False Solomon Seal, squaw currant, Oregon grape, and small willow trees.
Animals common in the forest around the cave include Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels, chipmunks, western gray squirrels, porcupines, weasels, pine martens, and mule deer. In 1991, park personnel observed a full-grown cougar ran out of the cave entrance area, but that was a single sighting. There is also a wide range of resident and migratory bird species common to the area. Small resident birds include wrens, robins, juncos, thrushes, woodpeckers, sapsuckers, red-shafted flickers, and ruby-crowned kinglets. Larger birds include great horned owls, red-tailed hawks, vultures, and a few golden eagles.
Forest Service biologists have identified several species of spiders, worms, centipedes, and millipedes that live inside the cave. There are also mice and bats that live in the cave year around. The cave's bat population is relatively small and the bats are very shy so visitors rarely see them. In fact, bats usually remain in hibernation until July, and when active they are nocturnal so they are asleep during the day when the cave is open. If a bat is sighted, the Forest Service recommended that it be left undisturbed. Waking it from hibernation is extremely stressful, and can cause the bat to die from the sudden expenditure of energy.
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