NCCN Bat Population Monitoring and White-nose Syndrome Surveillance

McCaffery, Rebecca; Hansen, Michael; Chestnut, Tara

The North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN) of National Parks initiated a large-scale bat monitoring and disease surveillance program following the detection of Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd, the causative agent of white-nose syndrome (WNS) in bats) in a little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) near Mount Rainier National Park in 2016. WNS has caused serious declines in bat populations across North America, and the arrival of this disease in Washington prompted an immediate recognition of the need to increase understanding of baseline bat distribution and activity patterns alongside disease spread. The NPS Pacific West Region (PWR) formed a working group of subject matter experts with experience in bat biology, disease ecology, veterinary medicine, WNS epidemiology, park management, and communications. This working group drafted a bat monitoring and WNS response plan for PWR parks which included five priority areas: communication, training and resources, WNS surveillance, bat monitoring, and collaboration and coordination. In the NCCN, bat disease surveillance and monitoring efforts began with pilot efforts in 2016 and continue to the present. For disease surveillance, overall goals include: (1) detecting and monitoring Pd and WNS in bat colonies across the NCCN to provide information to park units on the status of their bat populations and inform potential management decisions; and (2) contributing to state and national efforts to document the geographic spread, species impacted, and how the disease progresses in bat populations over time. For bat monitoring, overall goals include: (1) understanding seasonal habitat use and distribution patterns in the three large national parks before the arrival and extensive spread of Pd/WNS; (2) understanding year-round phenology and activity at select locations in all NCCN parks before and as disease spreads; and (3) monitoring the size and dynamics of maternity/summer roosts at known locations across the NCCN over time. Key projects have included: (1) acoustic monitoring of bats across seasonal, elevation, and precipitation gradients in the three large national parks – Mount Rainier, North Cascades, and Olympic National Parks (2019-2020); (2) year-round acoustic monitoring at select sites in all NCCN park units (2020-present); and (3) additional targeted research projects addressing fall-to-winter bat ecology and activity (2020- present). This project was initiated by the NPS in 2016. The USGS Olympic Field Station (Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center) joined as a collaborator in this work and helped to expand acoustic monitoring efforts in 2018. In 2023, implementation of the Pd/WNS surveillance program officially transferred from NPS to the USGS, which currently oversees all bat monitoring and disease surveillance in the NCCN. The NCCN parks and USGS continue to work collaboratively on research and monitoring goals for bats in the region.

NCCN Bat Population Monitoring and White-nose Syndrome Surveillance

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