Abandoned mines on FS land

[WildernessAU]

Just saw on the news a story about a mold/fungus that is slightly affecting bat populations.
Colorado just issued a ban on entering abandoned mines and caves so the fs can "study" if humans help spread the disease. Ban for 1 year starting now...and lifted depending on their findings..
1 million bats have died on the east coast where it originated..........doesn't seem like much to me. nature is thinning out the weak......plus these abandoned mines are man made habitat for these flying rats.

[gremlin]

it would be very hard to carry a mold from the east coast to the west. you would need to be in one of the caves then drive west then go in to a mine. having the spors last that long would be hard.

[Hoser John]

What a scam to keep ya out a mines and raise revenue through fines. Environutz trying to circumvent natural selection once again John

[OKJohn]

Here is an exerpt from a related news release:

White Nose Syndrome
Something is killing whole populations of bats in the eastern U.S. as they hibernate in caves
and mines. Bats are losing their fat reserves (which are needed to survive hibernation) long
before the winter is over and dying of starvation. Scientists estimate over a million
bats have already died.

The earliest evidence of WNS was in a 2006 photograph taken in Howe's Cave, NY,
the rarely visited, non-commercial section of Howe Caverns. However, the condition wasn't
recognized until a year later, after hundreds of bats were found dead in four nearby caves.
Scientists describe WNS as the most serious known decline in North American wildlife.
It threatens cave ecosystems and presents new challenges for broader cave conservation
efforts.

For more than 65 years, the NSS and its members have been at the forefront of efforts
to conserve and study caves, their unique geology and environments, and the life they
contain. Now, we are collaborating with wildlife managers and scientists to combat WNS.

As with everything else that ends up resulting in more laws and regulations...I don't know how much of this stuff is real. However, there are groups really up at arms about this threat.
http://caves.org/WNS/index.htm

OKJohn

[Hoser John]

This was out in the National Geo mag years ago-survival of the fittest is natural selection,been going on for 100's a millions of years,over 65% of the critters that ever was are no more,sweet simple and ez-John