Indiana DNR Confirms Geomyces destructans

[PYoungbaer]

Here's the press release - just out:
DNR NEWS

Indiana Department of Natural Resources
402 W. Washington St. W255 B
Indianapolis, IN 46204-2748
Phone: (317) 232-4200

For immediate release: Feb. 1, 2011

Bat tests positive for white-nosed fungus

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have received confirmation that a bat found in a southern Indiana cave has tested positive for the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome. The case is the state’s first for the WNS fungus, believed to be responsible for the deaths of more than one million bats in the eastern United States.

Researchers doing biennial bat counts at Endless Cave in Washington County discovered two little brown bats on Jan. 23 that exhibited the white fungus characteristic of WNS. One of the bats was euthanized and sent to the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin, which later confirmed the presence of the WNS-associated fungus.

Additional bats with signs of WNS were discovered during routine bat count surveys at other caves.

“We knew WNS was likely to reach Indiana caves this year, and we have been working closely with biologists from the DNR to prepare for this as well as we could,” said Tom Melius, the Service’s Midwest Regional Director. “Nonetheless, it is devastating to actually confirm the presence of the fungus and witness the symptoms of WNS in bats. While there is currently no cure and no treatment for this disease, we will put all our energies into contributing to the ongoing efforts to understand and combat WNS.”

The fungus has been discovered in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, Canada.

Researchers associate WNS with a newly identified fungus, Geomyces destructans, which thrives in the cold and humid conditions characteristic of caves and mines used by hibernating bats.

Experts believe WNS is transmitted primarily from bat to bat, but they also caution it may be transmitted by humans inadvertently carrying fungal spores from cave to cave on their clothing and caving gear.

The DNR closed public access to all caves on state-managed properties two years ago, including Endless Cave in the Cave River Valley Natural Area managed by the DNR Division of State Parks & Reservoirs as part of Spring Mill State Park.

“We will continue to keep all of our caves closed, and we are urging private cave owners to either not allow access to their caves or require visitors to follow USFWS decontamination procedures,” DNR deputy director John Davis said. “The whole effort is to slow the spread and have movement of the disease not be exacerbated by human interference.”

Physical signs associated with WNS are a white fungus on the bat’s nose, wings, ears or tail membrane. Bats afflicted with WNS often exhibit unusual behavior in winter, including clustering near hibernacula entrances. Affected bats also may leave their hibernacula during the day and may be observed flying or clinging to rocks outside or on nearby buildings. Dead or dying bats are often found on the ground near affected areas.

For more information about white-nose syndrome, visit www.dnr.in.gov/batdisease and www.fws.gov/whitenosesyndrome

-30-

Media contact: Phil Bloom, DNR Division of Communications, 317-232-4003 or pbloom@dnr.IN.gov

Georgia Parham, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 812-334-4261 x 1203 or Georgia_Parham@fws.gov

[wyandottecaver]

I just logged on to post this myself but of course Peter is on the ball .

This cave was gated for pay by cavers, and as the Press Release says has been closed by the DNR WNS policy for 2 years. The cave was actually closed to the public well before that due to the DNR developing the property.....so much for the cavers as culprit theory here.

[self-deleted_user]

Well that sucks :( but again it is more evidence for it's a bat thing not a human thing.

At least they don't seem like they are going totally bananas...I mean the same caves are open that have been open, it sounds like. For the record to my new Indiana cavefriends I do decon my gear regardless of how I feel about if it does anything or not. I like clean gear anyway, may as well throw in the decon step when I wash stuff.

[wyandottecaver]

I will disagree Amy. All State caves are closed. But since that (obviously) didn't work they are now urging PRIVATE owners to stop allowing cavers as well. Cause of COURSE that will solve the problem of infected bats flying around.....

[cavergirl]

map shows spread right where BCI predicted- based on BAT migration patterns
http://batcon.org/images/stories/WNS_St ... eLarge.jpg

[self-deleted_user]

I will disagree Amy. All State caves are closed. But since that (obviously) didn't work they are now urging PRIVATE owners to stop allowing cavers as well. Cause of COURSE that will solve the problem of infected bats flying around.....

How many landowners who don't know about caving much will see that notice though? And how many landowners who do know about caving and see the notice know better? Just wondering...like I said it's not good but I'm not sure it's anywhere near as bad as it could be.

[reeffish1073]

Yet another sad day on the WNS front! Hated hearing about this one too!

[David Grimes]

Amy, the issue is not really about landowners learning about WNS and closing their caves. The Indiana DNR has access to the locations to most if not all registered known caves in the state, whether they are on private land or public. They also have bat census data, so they could use that information to start contacting private landowners (primarily owners whose caves contain significant bat populations) and convincing/forcing them to close access to their caves. If the problem only involved public property I would argue the cavers would not be extremely upset but since they have made it clear they plan to try and close private caves the cavers are taking it much more personal. I cannot say I speak for all the Indiana cavers (or even the majority) but this is the way I see things. Like I have said before on this forum, I fear caving will never be the same again and it will be a very long time if ever before we get back into caves on public land so what do we have if they find a way to keep us out of private caves.

[self-deleted_user]

I guess I"m missing where they can make landowners close private caves. I agree with everything you wrote though. It sucks, no other way to say it.

[David Grimes]

Technically they cannot "make" landowners close access to their caves but the fear is that they will use they Endangered Species Act in a way similar to the whole issue with the Center for Biological Diversity, in which they essentially scare the landowner into closing access to the caves. By throwing around legal terms and threatening legal action which in the CBD case involved issuing fines for failure to abide by FWS requirements, it would be fairly easy to get landowners to start bulldozing caves or restricting access. A big fear now days is the risk that the landowner may lose the ability to use their own land or even have their land seized under the "Critical Habitat" section of the law. In reality a landowner probably would face no real repercussion for not closing their caves but you could see how it would be easy enough to scare them into it, just read the entire Endangered Species Act, I know many people who would never report having any endangered species on their property it is simply not worth the risk of losing the use of your own land.

[self-deleted_user]

Ah....yeah.

[NZcaver]

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/26696889/detail.html


FYI, Endless Cave has been closed for at least two years, following acquisition of the Cave River Valley property by the State of Indiana. Furthermore, a gate was installed in August of 2009.





-Dean

Dean Wiseman
NSS#32690 RL, BOG

[DeanWiseman]

The thing I fear most from these events is this:

The State will try to close caves... easy enough if they "own" (or otherwise control) the land. Then one of three things will happen...

1.) The bats will make a miraculous recovery, whereby the State... Feds... whoever will say "hey, lookee here, we shut down the caves and the bats recovered. Let's KEEP caves closed.

2.) The bats will mostly die off, but then will sort of just limp along until enough resistant individuals survive and restore populations 20...50...100 years from now. Until such time, the Policymakers will say "hey, lookee here, we need to KEEP caves closed in order to let the bats recover."

3.) The bats will completely die off, with no population recovery whatsoever. The Policymakers will say "hey, lookee here, we need to KEEP caves closed in order to prevent another (supposedly) human-driven catastrophe."


It won't matter WHAT happens, a huge number of the "erudite" policymakers will spin it toward whatever bias they may hold. Never mind that bats have been definitively shown to grow in population despite frequent visitation to hibernaculum caves during winter hibernation months. http://ikc.caves.org/docs/update_94.pdf (see page 6, article by Keith Dunlap)


Just an opinion...

-Dean

Dean Wiseman
NSS#32690 RL, BOG

[BrianC]

Every American is concerned about environmental issues. Even though they don't know much about caves or bats, when the feds and states say that this should be done for environmental reasons, the general public won't mind. Most cavers have objected to reasoning for keeping caves open, so where are we now?

[PYoungbaer]

I guess I"m missing where they can make landowners close private caves. I agree with everything you wrote though. It sucks, no other way to say it.

Just look at what Wisconsin did: named four bat species as state threatened, and named Geomyces destructans as a prohibited invasive species. Private cave owners and cavers have run up legal bills in the five figure range to fight the rules. By the way, these rules are currently being challenged by state legislators, with prompting from the landowners.