All, here is some info I received from the NSS on the WNS issue, as well as a sample letter the NSS is asking cavers to use in writing their Congressman and US Senator to help draw attention to this alarming phenomenon. In addition to this, Butch Fralia has also added a WNS section on the TSA webpage (www.cavetexas.org) with informational links, sanitation procedures, and other valuable sources in regard to this dangerous situation. Finally, Jim Kennedy of the BCI will be giving a talk at this weekend's TSA Convention on the subject of White Nose Syndrome. This is a very timely subject and I hope that all that read this can attend. Thanks and see you this weekend in Kerrville! Mark Alman
----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Keith D. Wheeland <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 9:03:18 AM Subject: NSS WNS Urgent Hi All IOs, Please share this with your IO. Today I have two items concerning WNS, one from the NSS President and one from the NSS Liaison for WNS. Peter Youngbaer has this to say. Could you please forward this link to the NSS policy statement on WNS to the IOs? It's the top link under Resources on the NSS WNS website: http://www.caves.org/WNS/WNS%20Info.htm In addition, here is one of the more moving pieces of video I've seen showing the devastation of WNS - shot at Vermont's Mt. Aeolus Bat Cave. For those outside the WNS region, this is what it's all about. http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4920589n%3fsource=search_video Thank you, Peter -------------------------------------------------- And this from Gordon Birkhimer our President. -------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION Fellow Cavers and National Speleological Society Members, Never in history of the NSS has any President been confronted with a situation that threatens to change caving as drastically as we used to know it. I'm certain you understand the devastation WNS has caused the bat population in caves in the North Eastern United States. The NSS Leadership has sent a letter requesting U.S. Senate Hearings in an appeal to obtain adequate research funding. I am now appealing to our NSS Internal Organizations and individual members to get involved and join in the fight against White Nose Syndrome (WNS). Please use my letter as a template and change the addressee to your own Senator or Congressperson. The E-mail addresses can be found at http://www.senate.gov/ or http://www.house.gov/ to forward your own personalized letter to your Senator or Congressional Representative. Remember, the sooner we solve WNS, the sooner we can get caving back to normal. The NSS Leadership has also recently released our Policy Statement in an attempt to contain WNS and it can be found here: http://www.caves.org/WNS/NSS%20WNS%20Policy%20Stmt%20090408.pdf Thank you for your participation, Gordon Birkhimer President National Speleological Society ------------------------------------------ SAMPLE LETTER April 16, 2009 Dear , The National Speleological Society requests a Senate hearing with the Committee on Environment and Public Works, Subcommittee on Fish, Wildlife and Water, and requests immediate emergency funding to address the White Nose Syndrome affecting cave bats. As the nation's largest organized caving and cave conservation organization, with nearly 12,000 members, we are deeply concerned about the loss of bats to our ecological system. Bats are our primary nocturnal insectivores, eating up to their own body weight in insects every night. The loss of bats to our ecosystem would mean a huge increase in pests that destroy agricultural crops, gardens, and carry potentially threatening diseases for humans, such as West Nile Virus. White Nose Bat Syndrome (WNS) has already devastated the cave dwelling bat populations of the northeastern United States, causing 95% to 100% bat mortality at affected sites. This phenomenon has spread quickly over the past two years. It is estimated that more than a million bats are known to be dead. The states currently documented as being affected are: New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. The nation's major hibernacula are west of West Virginia; if this disease is not stopped we may experience extinction of several cave dwelling bat species in a very short time period. This phenomenon was initially documented in New York in 2006 and is thought to be an introduced fungus of unknown origin. In addition, if WNS spreads to threaten bats in the western U.S., additional impacts to farmers and orchardists could face severe losses as several of these bat species are major pollinators of fruits and vegetables. The NSS itself has raised over $40,000 from our members in support of five different research projects, but that is a fraction of the total need. Some other private sources, such as Bat Conservation International, have also stepped forward with funding in the short term, and some USFWS funding has been able to be directed to WNS. However, the WNS situation has escalated to a crisis point where significant financial resources from Congress are urgently needed. We can't underscore enough the critical need for research funding for this summer season. With bats ending their hibernation, follow-up activities as they emerge, as they give birth and nurse in their maternity colonies, as they consume insects over the summer and begin to put on weight for next fall's mating and hibernation season, and as they fly many miles to summer roosts, it is absolutely vital that researchers have the funds to conduct tests over the summer season. Without those resources, another year will go by, and WNS will continue to spread without information that could be obtained this year. Following is a link to a story by Beth Daley from The Boston Globe, where researchers describe the scope of the problem, and tell of the funding issues: _http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/04/06/sick_bats_pr_problem_could_prove_to_be_deadly/_ For the past year, the NSS has had a Liaison on White Nose Syndrome, who is in daily communication with the federal and state wildlife officials and scientists working on WNS. From our discussions with scientists and wildlife officials, we believe that something in the range of $6 million in priority research funding for WNS is needed. We ask that it be spread roughly equally among several entities: the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the US Geological Survey, and the National Science Foundation. Those would be the three most important agencies for funding, but others, such as the United States Forest Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and even the Department of Defense, are all involved. It is important to have funding in different areas in order to keep a check and balance in the research system and to afford direct access to the parties intimately involved in the research. For the National Science Foundation, it is very important that they have a source of funds for academic researchers to apply to competitively. We also ask that specific language be included that directs a significant portion of the money to get to the field this summer season. Timing is of the essence, and the normal internal processes are not sufficiently responsive to address the realities of the progress of this devastating illness. For example, the NSF has a "RAPID" grant program, but in actuality it takes more than nine months for funds to hit the street. We urge you to expedite that process with emergency language. Thank you very much for attention to this major environmental concern. We are happy to offer our expertise to help in any way. Sincerely, END OF SAMPLE LETTER ---------------------------------------------------- -- Keith D. Wheeland, NSS 2878, Chair NSS IO Committee 2191 Mt. View Ave. State College, PA 16801-7214 814-238-2057 [email protected] (Use this forwarding address in your address book) IO Website - www.caves.org/committee/i-o/ Annual Report & Updates- www.nssio.org <http://www.nssio.org/>
