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Priorities and ProgramsPriorities and Programs of the SBDN are described in the following progress report to the North American Bat Conservation Partnership. Progress and Success where NABCP Played a Supportive Role Priority Conservation Projects and Key Regional Issues: Southeastern U. S.
M. B. Fenton, Professor Dear Brock: On February 5, 2002 I received a request from you in your capacity as Chair of the Executive Committee for the North American Bat Conservation Partnership (NABCP). Specifically, you needed information from the Southeastern Bat Diversity Network (SBDN) on the following:
I hope that the information provided below satisfies these information needs from our group. PROGRESS AND SUCCESS WHERE NABCP PLAYED A SUPPORTIVE ROLEDONATION OF FUNDS FROM NABCPThe SBDN was grateful to receive a $1500 donation from NABCP in 2001. The funding was used to enhance communication with our members and to facilitate progress on some of our programs. To enhance communcation we established a new web site that allows us to provide up-to-date information on the SBDN's activities and programs. The website (www.sbdn.org) currently contains information on our mission, history, the annual SBDN meetings, the group's organizational structure, minutes of the Board of Directors meetings (pages in progress), copies of our biannual newsletter (Nightwing News) and progress on programs. We will soon be installing other pages that will help our members to properly conduct studies (standardized forms, approved protocols, etc), learn about work in progress in our region, help students and others interested in bat conservation in the region to learn more about study opportunities and ways that people can help bats. We also used some of the donated funds to print and mail two newsletters (Nigthwing News volume 5, issues 1 and 2). To further our programs a portion of the funds was used to assist with travel costs for key regional bat biologists to meet in Kentucky in order to identify gaps in a draft conservation assessment and strategy for Corynorhius rafinesquii. Additionally, at past annual meetings of the SBDN our members have expressed concern about bat banding issues. In addition to concerns about the possible harm to bats and the proper use and application of bands, members desired a centralized source for information on bat banding. In response, the SBDN developed a bat banding database for the southeastern region. Establishing the database was possible through the support of the N. C. State Museum of Natural Sciences. Funds provided by the NABCP were then used to pay an assistant to test the program. NABCP GRANT PROGRAMSince the inception of the NABCP grant program in 1998 the Partnership has partially funded 13 projects in the southeastern United States (totalling $47, 936). Support was provided for habitat identification and restoration or enhancement of habitat, natural history investigations of individual species and education. Details about awards for work in the southeastern US (SEUS) are listed below.
Summary of 2001 Grants to Southeastern States
Proposals received: 25
Total proposals funded: 14
Total proposals funded SEUS: 3 (AL, MS, TX)
Total disbursed: $50,009
Total award for work in the SEUS: $12,500
Projects receiving NABCP funds - 2001
John French, Alabama-$3,750
Shelta Cave Modernization for Gray Bat Recovery
Mark Sanders, Texas-$5,000
Myotis velifer Habitat Enhancement at Goat Cave
Francisco Vilella, Mississippi-$3,750
Roost Sites, Habitat Use and Movements of Red Bats
Summary of 2000 NABCP Grants to Southeastern States
Proposals received: 28
Total proposals funded: 18
Total proposals funded SEUS: 3 (LA, MS, TX)
Total disbursed: $ 59,929
Total award for work in the SEUS: $11,098
Projects receiving NABCP funds - 2000
Gypsy Gooding, Louisiana-$2,964
Roost Selection in Northern Louisiana Bottomland Hardwood Forests
Annika Keeley, Texas-$4,348
Educational at Trunks for Texas
Darren Miller, Mississippi-$3,750
Roost Sites, Habitat Use and Movements of Red Bats
Summary of 1999 NABCP Grants to Southeastern States
Proposals received: 36
Total proposals funded: 19
Total proposals funded SEUS: (FL, KY, MS, TX)
Total award for work in the SEUS: $15,838
Total disbursed: $70,176
Projects receiving NABCP funds - 1999
Pat Brown-Berry, Texas-$3,338
Identification of Idionycteris Roosts, part II
Laura Finn, Florida-$3,750
Habitat Use by Corynorhinus rafinesquii
Elaine Hall, Mississippi-$5,000
Artificial Habitat Stabilization in Mississippi
Jeffrey Schwierjohann, Kentucky-$3,750
Natural vs. Artificial Roosts in Eastern Kentucky
Summary of 1998 NABCP Grants to Southeastern States
Proposals received: 28
Total proposals funded: 19
Total proposals funded in SEUS: 3 (GA, NC, SC)
Total award for work in the SEUS: $8,500
Total disbursed: $54,859
Projects receiving NABCP funds - 1998
Mary Kay Clark, North Carolina-$1,500
Conservation Strategy for Corynorhinus rafinesquii
Bill Putnam, Georgia-$5,000
Acquisition of Fricks Cave
Greg Yarrow, South Carolina-$2,000
Bat Houses and Agricultural Pest Reduction
 PRIORITY CONSERVATION PROJECTS AND KEY REGIONAL ISSUES: SOUTHEASTERN U. S.The primary goal of the SBDN is to preserve bat biodiversity in the region. Approaches include projects that enhance communication and information dissemination and those that faciliate the study and protection of individual species as well as those that promote the conservation of diversity by studying and protecting bat assemblages through large-scale and small-scale land protection efforts. Specific information for six individual species in need of attention in the southeastern U. S. is provided in brief below. Following that is a description of the SBDN projects and concerns related to the conservation of diverse bat assemblages. The final section discusses the structure and function of the SBDN as regards our ability to make progress and implement programs. SPECIES CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT: PROTECTED SPECIES AND SPECIES OF CONCERNEndangered Species
Update - Actions taken on SBDN Priorities: Gray Bat Status Recommendation, a letter to Mr. Steven Williams,Director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service Other bats of concern in the Southeastern U. S. Several species that are not federally protected have been the subject of actions by the SBDN. Two of these, Myotis austroriparius and Corynorhinus rafinesquii, are listed federally as "Species-at-Risk". The identification of critical roosting and foraging habitat and the protection of habitat is a great need in most parts of their ranges. Members of the SBDN are working on conservation assessments and strategies for both of these species. Another bat of concern is Myotis leibii. Records of this species are few; however, in the last few years this species has been captured or otherwise documented from sites that had not been surveyed before. It may be more common than previously believed, but more surveys are needed to better determine the distribution of this species. A conservation assessment has been drafted by staff of the U.S. Forest Service. LAND USE ISSUES AND HABITAT CONSERVATION FOR BATS IN THE SOUTHEASTERN U.S.Bats and Human Population Growth Population growth and urban sprawl are major problems in the southeastern United States. Rapid human population growth is occurring in the region and is especially rampant in the East Coast and Gulf Coast states. High human population growth is expected to continue in this region in the future. Current trends in land use conversion in the region show significant losses of many ecosystem types due to the impacts of human population growth (e.g., degraded air and water quality, waste treatment facility issues, increased demand for resources resulting in the loss or degradation of natural features and natural communities, increased human-wildlife conflicts, etc). An effort is needed to identify remaining areas of primary ecological significance to bats, on both local and regional scales. Areas that contain major riparian ecosystems and other landscape features important to bats, such as caves, are of special concern. A necessary step in land management for bats in the southeastern U.S. is to identify existing natural resource analysis programs in the region, and the key personnel involved with them, so that needs of bats will be considered in preservation efforts. This is a critical need in our region. Another result of this kind of growth is an increase in human-animal encounters, and the use of buildings for roosts. More bat education efforts are needed. Bottomland Hardwood Forest Initiative Bottomland hardwood forests in the southeastern U. S. have been surveyed for bats in several states. The results of these investigations indicate that these systems have a high diversity of bat species when they contain tree structure elements that are important to bats (e.g., large and small cavities, scars and loose bark). Much of the southeastern region is devoid of caves and mines and many of the bats in the region rely on tree structures for roosting. It is likely that these bottomland systems provide some of the best remaining natural roosting habitat for bats in the region. Additionally, within these ecosystems the cypress-gum swamp forest community has been shown to be especially important for Myotis austroriparius and Corynorhinus rafinesquii, two Species-at-Risk. Mature cypress-gum forests contain large tree cavities that these two species use for roosts. Conversion to other uses and degradation of bottomland forests is occurring at an alarming rate. The USGS recognizes bottomland hardwood forests as a declining habitat. For these reasons the SBDN has worked with other groups to begin to increase awareness of the importance of these areas to bats and believes that there is a critical need to identify sites that need protection, to learn more about bat use in these systems regionwide, and to encourage land managers to preserve and restore these systems. To make progress in this area, members of our group have met with timber industry biologists on several ocassions and the SBDN will continue to work with timber companies and other private land managers, as well as public ones, to make them aware of the bat needs in these systems. In March 2001, we attempted to have bat information added to The Nature Conservancy's Ecoregion Plan for the Mississippi River Alluvial Plain, but we learned of the effort too late. We plan to continue to work on this effort. And at the annual SBDN meeting in February 2001 we held a special meeting to discuss the formation of an Alliance to further our efforts in bottomland hardwood forests. IMPROVING OUR ABILITY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCEOur ability to be an effective force in bat conservation is tied to the strentgh and durability of the SBDN and to the committments made by our leadership and members. For these reasons improving the way that the SBDN functions is critical and is an ongoing effort. Natural resource conservation requires years of work and progress is often slow. In order to make a difference the SBDN must be built to last. We provided a solid foundation for the SBDN by incorporating as a non-profit organization in 2001. We consider this to be a major improvement in our organizational structure that will help us to accomplish our mission. We have identified problems and challenges, and ways to resolve them, but resources are lacking to make sufficient progress on these items. The momentum and desire to make a difference is strong and we have a devoted and active Board of Directors. But, in spite of their many positive contributions, progress on our programs lags and often stagnants because the priorities and needs in the workplace naturally supercede the ones of the SBDN. Current budget crises in most of the states in the southeastern region indicate that the problem will get worse in the near future and make it even more difficult for the SBDN to make progress as the persons already involved in these will likely acquire more duties at the workplace and have to make do with lower budgets and fewer resources to do their jobs. Locating funding to further programs, for example - paying someone to enter bat banding data - is therefore a high priority for the near future. I hope that the information above is useful and adequately answers your request. Please contact me if you have any questions or comments about this report or any other matters relating to the SBDN. Sincerely,Mary Kay Clark, President P.S.-I am solely responsible for all grammatical and spelling errors, and for information that may not be presented clearly!. |
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