BILLINGS — Access to one of Montana’s largest caves used by bats for winter hibernation could be reopened to explorers under proposals drafted by the Bureau of Land Management.

As proposed, the agency would allow up to four trips a month led by “trusted” guides into Mystery Cave, although not between Oct. 15 and May 31, when the cave would be closed to all recreation.

The cave has around 1,650 feet of passage, ranges to 94 feet in depth and is one of the larger caves that have been found in Montana, according to Bryce Maxwell, program coordinator for the Montana Natural Heritage Program.

“It has several large rooms and a number of very delicate speleothem features (stalagmites, stalactites, flowstone, cave popcorn, and calcite crystals) in portions of the cave that can easily be damaged

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