Bats & Mines

Abandoned underground mines provide significant habitat for bats and sealing mines without first evaluating their importance to bats may be one of the single greatest threats to North American bats. Although caves are numerous in some regions, these sites are frequently subject to human disturbance. More than half of North America's 47 bat species are known to use mines and many colonies are forced to find sanctuary in mines as a last resort. Unfortunately numerous historic mines are being removed from the landscape every year as a result of human safety and liability mitigation and renewed mining.
 

In 1993, BCI and the USDI--Bureau of Land Management founded the North American Bats and Mines Project in order to reduce the loss of bats during closures of abandoned mines. Prior to intervention BCI and numerous partners, millions of bats are believed to have been inadvertently buried during mine reclamation activities.

Today, BCI's Bats and Mines Program continues in the spirit of the original project that proved to be extremely successful at informing managers of opportunities to conserve and manage key roosts in abandoned mines for bats. The program provides national leadership and coordination among federal, state, and private agencies and the mining industry to minimize the loss of mine-roosting bats. Through diverse collaborations with management, conservation and academic partners, the Bats and Mines Program will continue to strengthen the foundation of the program and expand its conservation efforts throughout North America and around the world.

~More coming soon~