Action Alert request for WNS funding

[BrianC]

Brian....We all know how you are, but SURELY not even you can have missed the fact repeated over and over that Peter is a VOLUNTEER. Oh, wait...I said "fact"...that's why you didn't know.

FY 08 WNS Endangered Species-funded grant projects

David Blehert, Alan Hicks, Peter Youngbaer, and Thomas H. Kunz –
USGS National Wildlife Health Center - $79,326
Geographic Distribution of the Psychrophilic Fungus (Geomyces sp.) Associated with White-nose Syndrome

Not a big deal,And yes Peter is a wonderful volunteer that works very hard but FYI this fact is from 2008, and just goes to show your true nature Todd.

[PYoungbaer]

Brian,

Yes, I am mentioned on the study with the other three people, as we conceived and carried out the project, but received no personal funding.

The NSS actually jump-started this project, and paid for the collection of the sediment/soil samples. This was the very first use of the NSS' WNS Rapid Response Funds - a grant of $5,000, of which a little over $1,000 was returned, as many cavers ended up paying for the postage to send the samples to Wisconsin and didn't ask for reimbursement. If the NSS had not paid for the up-front collection materials and process, this would have had to wait an entire year to begin - hence, the project met the goals and intent of the Rapid Response Fund.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service funding you cite went to the USGS lab for the processing of the samples. As it turned out, the funding was not sufficient to process and analyze all the samples, due to the complexities of dealing with the Geomyces destructans fungus (e.g. separating it from the other Geomyces species). The results of this project (at least those samples processed to date) were published in the March issue of Mycologia. Here's the link as posted on the NSS WNS web page: http://www.caves.org/WNS/Lindner%20et%20al%20Mycologia,%20March%202011.pdf

Now, Dr. Blehert just made a presentation on this work at the NASBR conference in Toronto last month. They have developed a new analysis and are now working to analyze the remainder of the more than 500 samples collected.

[BrianC]

Brian,

Yes, I am mentioned on the study with the other three people, as we conceived and carried out the project, but received no personal funding.

Thank you Peter, for the response! I would be certain that many of the funded projects will be quickly realized into fruition because the more we learn, the less the need for similar research studies, and therefore spending on them.

[BrianC]

Looks like the petition is off the table now.

[PYoungbaer]

Vermont U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy's office informed us today that the final Interior Appropriations bill that is part of the fiscal package going to the President includes $4 million for WNS research and related activities. This relates to the current federal fiscal year - 2012, which began Oct. 1, 2011 and runs through Sept. 30, 2012. It's not new money, but prioritized within the appropriation. It's also important that the WNS funding is spread among several agencies, not just US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Sen. Leahy is also sending a letter to USFWS Director Ashe asking for updated WNS mortality figures. We have been asking for these for over a year now. As many have pointed out, we've been using the phrase "over a million bats killed" for nearly two and half years now. Thanks to Sen. Leahy and his staff for their sustained and focused attention to WNS.

Here are some excerpts from Leahy's message:

You may have spotted this already in the FY12 final spending package that was announced today, but I wanted to make sure you saw that we have three mentions of White Nose Syndrome in the Interior Appropriations bill - Interior Wildlife & Fisheries, Interior ESA, and the Forest Service! While the $4 million is far below the $10.8m we had requested it is still great progress to have some funding in there when we are seeing so many other Interior programs slashed. Also getting mentions in more areas of the bill is another huge success.

Department of Interior:

Wildlife and Fisheries. - The Bureau should prioritize research related to White Nose Syndrome in bats and the inventory and monitoring of bat resources on Bureau-administered lands.

Endangered Species.- The conferees direct the Service to fund white nose syndrome research and response activities at no less than $4,000,000 from within Recovery. Funds should be used to: (I) increase research capacity to fund basic and applied research to stop the spread of the disease; (2) provide funding for States to implement response activities; and (3) increase FWS capacity for surveillance, monitoring and coordination activities. The conferees expect these activities to be coordinated with other Federal partners.

Forest Service:

The Forest Service should prioritize research related to White Nose Syndrome as well as inventory and monitoring of bat resources on Forest Service lands.

[SuckinOnSodaStraws]

Bah humbug.