Delaware News

DNREC seeks volunteers to monitor state’s bat population

Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control | Division of Fish and Wildlife | Date Posted: Monday, May 15, 2017



Division of Fish & Wildlife offers training in Smyrna May 19 for annual Bat Count

DOVER – Have you seen any bats lately in Delaware and wondered how the nine bat species found here are faring in troubling times for bats in North America? If so, DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife offers an opportunity for you to step up to the plate on the bats’ behalf and participate in the annual Delaware Bat Count. Training for “bat spotting” will be held at 6 p.m. Friday, May 19 at DNREC’s Aquatic Resources Education Center (AREC), located at 2520 Lighthouse Road, Smyrna, DE 19977.

Since 2009, DNREC has been monitoring the state’s bat populations and working with the public to limit the spread of White Nose Syndrome (WNS), a devastating fungal disease that has killed millions of bats across the continent. The Bat Count helps provide information for DNREC biologists studying bat populations in the state and insights into the impacts that WNS is having on them. Several bat species, including some that inhabit Delaware, have suffered as much as 100 percent bat mortality from WNS at winter hibernation sites in some states, prompting the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to list one species, the northern long-eared bat, as federally threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2015. Due to population declines, the northern long-eared and little brown bats also were added to Delaware’s list of endangered species in 2014.

Bats are important to Delaware’s ecology, feeding on millions of insects, including mosquitoes, beetles, moths and agricultural pests, helping ward off potential threats to public health and the food supply. A study in Science magazine noted that bats are among the most economically valuable wildlife to farmers, saving them nationwide at least $3.7 billion annually by reducing the amount of pesticides needed.

DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife is seeking volunteers to help locate bat roosts and count bats exiting their daytime resting areas, with data from the Bat Count providing scientific information such as bat numbers and distribution of bat species found in Delaware. After training, volunteers will adopt a known bat colony and commit to counting the number of bats within their adopted colony at least twice this summer. An RSVP to attend the training is requested by emailing katelyn.rembecki@delaware.gov or calling 302-735-8674.

Media contact: Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902.

Vol. 47, No. 106

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DNREC seeks volunteers to monitor state’s bat population

Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control | Division of Fish and Wildlife | Date Posted: Monday, May 15, 2017



Division of Fish & Wildlife offers training in Smyrna May 19 for annual Bat Count

DOVER – Have you seen any bats lately in Delaware and wondered how the nine bat species found here are faring in troubling times for bats in North America? If so, DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife offers an opportunity for you to step up to the plate on the bats’ behalf and participate in the annual Delaware Bat Count. Training for “bat spotting” will be held at 6 p.m. Friday, May 19 at DNREC’s Aquatic Resources Education Center (AREC), located at 2520 Lighthouse Road, Smyrna, DE 19977.

Since 2009, DNREC has been monitoring the state’s bat populations and working with the public to limit the spread of White Nose Syndrome (WNS), a devastating fungal disease that has killed millions of bats across the continent. The Bat Count helps provide information for DNREC biologists studying bat populations in the state and insights into the impacts that WNS is having on them. Several bat species, including some that inhabit Delaware, have suffered as much as 100 percent bat mortality from WNS at winter hibernation sites in some states, prompting the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to list one species, the northern long-eared bat, as federally threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2015. Due to population declines, the northern long-eared and little brown bats also were added to Delaware’s list of endangered species in 2014.

Bats are important to Delaware’s ecology, feeding on millions of insects, including mosquitoes, beetles, moths and agricultural pests, helping ward off potential threats to public health and the food supply. A study in Science magazine noted that bats are among the most economically valuable wildlife to farmers, saving them nationwide at least $3.7 billion annually by reducing the amount of pesticides needed.

DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife is seeking volunteers to help locate bat roosts and count bats exiting their daytime resting areas, with data from the Bat Count providing scientific information such as bat numbers and distribution of bat species found in Delaware. After training, volunteers will adopt a known bat colony and commit to counting the number of bats within their adopted colony at least twice this summer. An RSVP to attend the training is requested by emailing katelyn.rembecki@delaware.gov or calling 302-735-8674.

Media contact: Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902.

Vol. 47, No. 106

-30-

image_printPrint

Related Topics:  , ,


Graphic that represents delaware news on a mobile phone

Keep up to date by receiving a daily digest email, around noon, of current news release posts from state agencies on news.delaware.gov.

Here you can subscribe to future news updates.