LITTLE ROCK — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is drafting a plan to combat the spread of a disease that has killed more than 1 million bats nationally, but so far the best advice remains - keep out.
“The unfortunate truth is we don’t have a lot we can do to manage this disease,” said Jeremy Coleman, the service’s national white-nose syndrome coordinator.
Coleman said scientists don’t know what’s killing bats in large numbers, but the agency characterizes the threat as the worst wildlife health crisis in memory.
The disease is associated with the fungus Geomycesdestructans, which shows up as white patches on muzzles and wings of affected bats, according to wildlife service information. Affected bats lack sufficient body fat to survive hibernation and often exhibit strange behavior, such as flying during cold weather.
Coleman said there is no way to stop bats from spreading the fungus to one another, but humans can avoid contributing to the problem. While some cave explorers dispute the assertion that people can carry the fungus from cave to cave, the potential loss of entire bat species is reason enough to steer clear of caves and abandonedmines, he said.
There are more than 100 agencies working on the plan, which has been released for public comment through Dec. 26, Coleman said. Many aspects of the plan that won’t be affected by comments, such as creation of a database, are being done during the review, he said. The database will include biological data and geospatial information specific to the investigation and monitoring of the syndrome, he said.
Once the comment period closes, Coleman said, a final version will be written to reflect suggestions, and federal agencies will begin implementing the plan. Though called a “final” plan, it will not be static, he said.
To help slow the spread of the disease, agencies have closed nearly all caves on public lands, said Chuck Bitting, geologist for the Buffalo National River.
Five or six caves along the Buffalo are still open to the public, but another 350 or so are closed, Bitting said. The open caves are at Lost Valley and Buffalo Point, he said.
Cave closings have caused a decline in visits from recreational explorers, a trend seen nationwide, Bitting said. Fitton Cave, the park’s most popular, historically saw about 800 visitors a year, based on the average number of permits issued, he said.
Now only a few researchers are allowed into Fitton Cave, Bitting said.
Devil’s Den State Park near West Fork in Washington County closed its caves in mid-April but hasn’t seen a decline in visitors to the park overall, said Monte Fuller, park superintendent. Park employees are taking the opportunity to educate the public on how bats affect them, Fuller said.
Bats eat a wide variety of insects, Coleman said, including mosquitoes and pests that eat crops.
Most people understand the need to close the caves, and few cancel their trips because they can’t explore them, Fuller said.
White-nose syndrome hasn’t been found in Arkansas but has been documented in western Oklahoma, Missouri and Tennessee. Bitting said he’s not ready to say it’s inevitable that the disease will spread to Arkansas.
The fungus thrives in cold conditions, so it may be that Arkansas is far enough south that the effects won’t be as widespread, Bitting said. It appears that bats can carry the white-nose syndrome fungus without showing “ full-blown white-nose symptoms,” he said.
“Basically dying in large numbers is one of the symptoms,” he said.
Coleman said he’s hopeful there’s a boundary for the spread of the disease, which could explain cases where the fungus has been found without a corresponding die-off of bats. Because cavers and researchers are on the lookout for the fungus, it may be that it’s being discovered earlier, he said, and that it takes longer for the bats to die than initially thought.
After all, cave temperatures are fairly standard and the fungus thrives at 59 degrees or below, Coleman said.
The closures make it illegal to access the caves, but don’t extend to private property, which is where the majority of caves are, Bitting said. Arkansas is home to about a third of at least 10,000 known caves in the Ozarks, Bitting said.
About 15 percent to 25 percent of the caves in the Ozarks are on public land, he said.
Experienced explorers may have differing opinions on the closures, but they’re not dismissing the threat of the disease, said Terry Mitchell, president of the Boston Mountain Grotto of the National Speleological Society.
“We’re observing cave closures, which of course is a matter of not breaking the law,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said members of his organization are following procedures recommended by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which means sanitizing equipment and gear used in caves.
Visitors to Blanchard Springs Caverns north of Mountain View in Stone County may also have to sanitize boots or other equipment before going on a tour, said Tony Guinn, visitor information specialist with the U.S. Forest Service.
Guinn said before every tour, visitors are asked whether they’ve been in a cave since 2000. If the answer is yes, she said, they are asked if they are wearing or carrying anything that they took in the other cave. If so, then the items are either sanitized or must be left in the visitor’s vehicle.
Other than Blanchard Springs Caverns, caves and abandoned mines in the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest are closed, according to service’s website.
Guinn said that Blanchard Springs has a section where bats hibernate, but that area is closed from Labor Day to Memorial Day.
A brief education on whitenose syndrome also greets visitors to Cosmic Cavern, said Bonnie Curnock, an interpretive guide at the private cave north of Berryville.
Curnock said commercial caves typically have too much human traffic to be inviting to hibernating bats. Still, the disease is a concern for anyone with any interest in caves, she said.
Lack of understanding and misinformation about white-nose syndrome are also problems, Curnock said. Some people mistakenly think humans can contract whitenose syndrome, which isn’t true, she said.
Mitchell said he’s not an expert on the disease but has read a lot of research, including some reports about whitenose syndrome in Europe. The reports indicate the fungus is widespread, but there aren’t cases with high numbers of bat deaths, he said.
Curnock said serious cavers follow the decontamination procedures to the letter, but amateurs may just wander into a cave, even though it’s closed. Even if people do manage to stay out of caves, she said, it won’t stop the spread of the disease because bats are everywhere.
“You can’t shut the planet down,” she said.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 11/27/2010