$259

MAY 2012

River HillsJournal of the Wildest, Wettest,

Most Scenic &Historic Part of

Missouri

ELK UPDATEPAGE 16

Traveler

CHUBB &OZARK TRAILHIKES

PAGES 1, 24

WNS HITS MO BATS

“WNS HITS MO BATS” first appeared in the May 2012 issue of River Hills Traveler. Used with permission. For more information about this monthly outdoor magazine concentrat-ing on southeast and south central Missouri, please visit www.riverhillstraveler.com and www.travtalk.net. To view a sample online copy, please visit www.rhetraveler.com. Copyright 2o12, Traveler Publishing Company.

To Subscribe: visit www.riverhillstraveler.com/sub.php or call 800-874-8423 x 2 Use code word Bats

MAY 2012 RIVER HILLS TRAVELER -- PAGE 7

By Jo Schaper It’s bad news for Missouri bats. TheMissouriDepartmentofConser-vationandtheU.S.FishandWildlifeServicejointlyannouncedthearrivalofwhitenosesyndrome(WNS)afungal disease of bats, in two caves on publiclandinLincolnCounty. The caves, like most on Missouri public lands, have been closed to visitation since spring 2010, when a bat with the Geomyces destructans fungus but not the full blown disease wasfoundinaPikeCountycave,fol-lowed shortly by the discovery of gray batscarryingthefungusinShannonCountyafewweekslater. Two tri-colored bats and one little brown bat were euthanized due to visualevidence,andsenttotheU.S.GeologicalSurveyNationalWildlifeHealthCenterinMadison,Wisc.,fortestingtoconfirmthepresenceofWNS. “The bats were alive when found in March,”saidMDCresearchscientistTonyElliottwhoisheadingupWNSresponse for the department. When unseasonably warm weather triggered the early return of a gray bat sum-merpopulationtoSequiotaCaveinSpringfieldinearlyApril,officialsbe-came concerned, but suspect samples sent to the Madison lab revealed no WNSpresent.

WNS marches onWNSwasfirstseeninNewYorkStatein2006.Ithassincespreadto19statesandfourCanadianprovinces.Although all cave bat species seem affected to some degree, the highest deathrates,someinexcessof98%per location, are in smaller bats. The twospeciesfoundwithWNShere,the tri-colored bat and the little brown bat, are coincidentally the two small-est cave bats by average body weight. They also were the most common bats in many regions, and as such not as much is known about them in terms of numbers or habits – not nearly as federally endangered species.Someestimatessayasmanyas5million bats may have been lost in the Northeast in the last seven years; that number is uncertain due to a lack of baseline data on these common bats. WNSisspreadbat-to-bat,andtheexpansionoftherangeofthediseasefollows normal bat migration patterns. Neither humans nor other animals seem to be susceptible to the fungus. WNS is here: what does it mean?

MissourihasaBatWorkingGroup,consisting of agency representatives, show cave representatives and select

members of the caving community, althoughMDCandU.S.FishandWildlife continue to be in the forefront of actual decision-making. “We will continue to communicate and coordi-nate and recommend decontamination forcavevisitors,”saidPaulMcKenzieofUSFWS’Columbiaoffice. This group continues to recommend keepingexistingpubliclandclosuresin place, which is a disappointment to cavers, who had hoped a clean 2011 report would re-open some of their favoritecaves.TonyElliottofMDCsaid the department is looking at rec-ommending screening procedures for show cave visitors, and recommending to private landowners that they vol-untarily restrict access to their caves. “We’re looking at something like what theydidinKentucky,”hesaid,refer-ringtoKentuckyFishandWildlife’seducational outreach to known private land cave owners. Hazel Barton, associate professor of biology, geology and environmental scienceattheUniversityofAkronandWNSresearcherwhoselastassign-mentwasattheUniversityofNorth-ernKentucky,contradictedElliott.“Theydidn’tdothatinKentucky–theDNR was actually positive about cav-ing, as long as they used appropriate decontamination, because the cavers have historically been the folks that identify the new sites. All the cave sitesidentifiedthisyearwerefoundby

Three cases of confirmed bat WNS in Missouricavers, who alerted DNR.” TomAley,presidentoftheOzarkUndergroundLab,andownerofTum-

blingCreekCave,whichishometoalarge gray bat colony, is not happy

Continued on Page 23

WNS ARRIVES IN MISSOURI — These three bats show signs of white nose syndrome, a fungal disease caused by cold-loving G. destructans. The disease spreads bat to bat during hibernation or other colonial behavior. As the bat’s immune system tries to fight off the effects of the fungus, the bat awakens early, ventures out looking for food, and most often starves to death. Two tricolor bats and one little brown bat were found in March in Lincoln County showing the characteristic white muzzle. These are the smallest cave-dwelling bats, and are of the species being hardest hit nationwide. Photos by Missouri Dept. of Conservation.

MAY 2012 RIVER HILLS TRAVELER -- PAGE 23

Continued from Page 7withtheapproachofeitherUSFWSorMDC.“Thereisnothingworkablethat can be done to curtail the spread ofWNS,”hesaid.“Federalagencieshave adopted unprecedented cave clo-sureactionsonthepremisesthat:1)they are necessary to prevent or slow thespreadofWNS,and2)cavevisi-torscanspreadWNStoothercaves.“ThetransportofWNSviabatsisa much more likely mechanism than transport by cavers, yet this bat-to-bat mechanism has been largely dismissed by those intent on blaming the spread of the disease on human actions,” he wrote.

Show cave managers concernedAlthoughofficialUSFWSpoliciesrecommend that show caves be al-lowed to continue to operate, Missouri show cave managers are concerned that the “stay out of the caves” mes-sage the press often gives is having a detrimental effect on their business. “We have two caves on our prop-erty,”saidGretchenShaw,manager

atMarkTwainCave,thelongestrunning show cave in the state, and alsothenearestonetotheWNSsite.“We open one of them only Memorial Day to Labor Day to protect our bats. We have no sign of it here, and we look for it almost daily. We’re open for business and we haven’t changed anything. But we do have to constantly tell people that we’re open for business.” KirkHansen,public relations manager for FantasticCav-ernsatSpringfieldputitthisway:“We’retryingtowalkthatfineline.We care about the bats. And we’ve had to appeal to the governor twice to get the agencies to back off on the “stay out of caves” message. If any-thing, with our riding tour, our visitors are totally insulated from the cave. “If another cave has a walking tour, they can wash off the trails. I’m not

badmouthing anyone, but maybe they need a more measured response to this.”

What the cavers think Finally, Traveler asked several cav-ers what they thought of the situation and how it would affect them.

Jon Beard, Springfield,vicepresident of Mis-souriCavesandKarstConservancy,which manages more than a dozen caves for private landowners, said “As I have been

decontaminatingmyequipmentandclothingpriortoeachcavepertheUS-FWSprotocol,whichhasbeenshownto be effective in testing by Dr. Hazel Barton et al, I do not see any reason at this time to change my project-oriented caving, which includes cave documentation, photography, cave mapping, cave restoration and public outreacheducationalfieldtripstoone

of the caves I manage.” ScottHouse,CapeGirardeau,datamanagerfortheMissouriSpe-leologicalSurveyandanofficerofCaveResearchFoundation,saidthediscovery is devastating for bats, and he believes more caves will be closed to recreational caving. He thinks his agency volunteering will continue, but perhaps be more closely scrutinized. “I do not personally believe that WNSisprimarilyspreadbyhumans–itisprimarilyspreadbybats.Caversare doing all they can to minimize the possibility of spore transmission. Completelyclosingcavestovisitationof any kind, researcher or otherwise, has not slowed the spread.” •KirstenAlvey,JeffersonCity,chairofChouteauGrotto,volunteerforMDCCaveStewardplanandcaveowner. “I’m going to keep caving. We’re doing good work with the bat monitoring I do, and I’m good about decon before I go, but I’m going to keep caving, both to help out the bats and because it is what I do.

“...I’m going to keep caving, both to help out the bats and because it is what I do.”

— Kristen Alvey, Chair Chouteau Grotto