Just thought you might like to see this message from Pat Ormsbee, Bat Ecologist on the Willamette National Forest. Looks like they're gearing up to keep an eye on the bats here in the Pacific NW. If you want to keep in touch with her on this, her FS e-mail address is at the bottom of this message.
> Louise Power > Finance Tech > Medford District Office > 541-618-2211 > ----- Forwarded by Louise Power/MDFO/OR/BLM/DOI on 03/05/2009 08:27 AM > ----- > > Subject > A message from Pat Ormsbee re: WNS > > The following is a message from Pat Ormsbee - Bat Ecologist on the > Willamette National Forest regarding some of the information she has > obtained about the White Nose Syndrome (WNS): > > > Hey guys, this is good news. I want to give you a heads up - White Nose > Syndrome is spreading at an alarming rate and is simply decimating > wintering bat colonies in the east, it is now in 7 states and spans an area > several hundred miles. Colonies of 13,000 and larger are now at 100 or even > worse, zero. The popular working hypothesis associates the syndrome > primarily with a cold loving fungus. This fungus is spread by spores that > can be carried by bats or people. The Western Bat Working Group is going to > put together an action plan to raise awareness and prevention of potential > spread of WNS in the west at our conference in Austin, TX in mid-April. The > general concensus is this stuff could show up in The West via even 1 person > who has visited the hot zone under the right conditions. I will be sending > an email out soon about the possibility of having a one day grotto summit > to get cavers up to speed and enlisted with assisting with prevention in > the PNW. In the meantime, I strongly precaution you about traveling between > caves without decontaminating your gear, especially traveling from human > popular sites to less popular sites. The decontamination process is still > being tested, and frankly I simply would not take clothes, boots, equipment > in to a human popular cave and then use the same clothes and gear at > another site at this point - one bat can carry 100,000 spores, so imagine > what a human can transport. The decontamination protocol can be found on > the fws website. NSS also has good WNS information on it's site and of > course WBWG does as well. I've attached the wbwg recommendations, although > they are already out of date given how quickly this stuff is spreading as > the recommendations don't address moving between caves in The West. This > will be updated at our conference in April. The links to these other key > websites are included in the document. - Pat > > > "Laughter is the closest distance between two people" Victor Borge > > Pat Ormsbee - R-6 Bat Specialist > Willamette NF > 3106 Pierce Parkway, Suite D > Springfield, OR 97477 > [email protected] > > 541-225-6442 > c 541-954-0083 >
