|
Release Date: March 5, 2021 Contacts: Tom Farrell, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 605-745-1130 White-nose syndrome found in Wind Cave
WIND CAVE NATIONAL PARK, S.D. – White-nose syndrome (WNS), a fungal disease that kills hibernating bats, has been confirmed in Wind Cave. Samples recently sent in for testing revealed 2 confirmed cases of the disease and 5 probable. Wind Cave is home to 9 species of bats, including the northern long-eared bat which is one of the species most impacted by WNS. Due to drastic population declines caused by this disease, the northern-long eared bat was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Caves such as Wind Cave provide important shelter for these unique flying mammals that can eat up to their body weight in insects each day and provide valuable pest control services. These cases are the first confirmation of WNS in bats in Wind Cave, although it was previously confirmed in bats in Custer County, South Dakota, in 2018. White-nose syndrome is a fatal disease of hibernating bats and has killed millions of North American bats since its emergence in 2006. There is no evidence that WNS poses a health risk to other wildlife, domestic animals or humans. Wind Cave staff are protecting hibernating bats in the cave by avoiding use of the cave’s Walk-In Entrance during the winter hibernation season. Wind Cave National Park is planning to resume limited cave tours this spring. All cave tour participants will be required to walk across a mat containing hydrogen peroxide to kill any fungus on their shoes that could inadvertently spread WNS to other areas. Park visitors should avoid contact with bats and notify park rangers of any dead or sick bats they see. The best ways visitors can help protect bats is by staying out of closed caves and following ranger instructions before and after a cave tour. Additionally, individuals can help stop WNS transmission by not re-using gear that has been in WNS-affected areas in places that do not have the disease. The bats were tested at the U.S. Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center located in Madison, Wisconsin. Genetic analyses to identify species of the submitted bats are pending. For more information about WNS, visit go.nps.gov/wns or whitenosesyndrome.org. Photo Caption: Bat, exhibiting signs of white-nose syndrome, in Wind Cave. (NPS Photo)
www.nps.gov/wica About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America’s 423 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov.
Wind Cave Names Acting Superintendent Leigh Welling Selected as Superintendent of Wind Cave National Park “I am pleased to welcome Leigh as superintendent of Wind Cave National Park,” said Frost. “She is a seasoned manager with experience at park, regional and national levels. Her background in geology and personal history in the area will be a great asset for the park and will provide a basis for strong partnerships that can benefit current and future generations.” “I’m so happy to be coming back to the Black Hills and Pine Ridge area,” Welling said about her new assignment. “Wind Cave National Park is truly special, for the wonders of the cave itself, for the unique mixed-grass prairie ecosystem it protects and for the historical, cultural and spiritual meaning it holds for many Native American tribes. I have vivid memories of time spent at Wind Cave when I was a child and feel a strong connection and sense of place to the people and the land here.” Since 2015, Welling has worked for the Alaska Regional Office, first as the regional chief scientist and then as the associate regional director for science, communication, and partnerships. She began her career with the NPS in 2002 as director for the Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center at Glacier National Park in Montana. In 2007, Welling moved to Fort Collins, Colorado where she served as the national lead for climate change, eventually helping to establish and lead the NPS Climate Change Response Program in 2010. Welling earned an undergraduate degree in Geology from the University of Colorado Boulder and a Masters and PhD in Oceanography from Oregon State University. Prior to her career in the NPS, she held positions at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, where she worked on practices to increase diversity and inclusion in earth science curricula, and at the University of North Dakota, where she was director of the Regional Earth Science Applications Center. Welling was born in Crawford, Nebraska, about 50 miles south of Hot Springs. She grew up as the youngest child in a ranching family and attended Trunk Butte, a country school outside of Chadron, Nebraska. She spent most of her childhood outdoors and riding horseback, activities that she still enjoys today. NPS The National Park Service manages 61 park areas in 13 states (Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Arkansas, and North and South Dakota), from the Regional Office in Omaha.
Dear Friends and Supporters, Thank you for your keen interest in Wind Cave National Park, a small and oft-time overlooked treasure of this Nation’s National Park system. Please check out our Membership page. Friends of Wind Cave National Park, authorized as a 501-c-3 charitable non-profit organization, can legally function as the conduit for public support of the important and exciting experience at Wind Cave National Park. We ask for your support and remind you that your donation may be tax-deductible and serves as a gift for future generations to come! The Friends of Wind Cave greatly assists the Park, since the Park can't spend money outside of its boundaries. We can also accomplish some other needed tasks and goals much more efficiently than the Park because we aren't bound by some of the federal regulations and red tape. The Park grew considerably in 2011, when it acquired 5556 acres in the Casey Ranch addition. The addition includes the historic Sanson Ranch, and a 4000 year old buffalo jump. Work in preparation for opening the historic ranch and buffalo jump to the public is currently underway in the park. The critical components are to secure the historic buildings on the site and to make sufficient improvements to assure public safety. Those monies have been designated through certain park channels and this initial work has begun. An access road to the addition was necessary before any of this work could be done. Since the Park can't spend outside of the Park boundaries, the Friends of Wind Cave raised funds to build a one-mile gravel road, creating access to the Casey Ranch addition, a necessary improvement from the previous crude two-track dirt trail. The Friends raised nearly $70,000 from its members and others, to accomplish the building of this road. The National Guard was a key factor in the building of the road, or we likely wouldn't have been able to afford this construction project at this time. We still have some finishing work to do on the one mile of road, and we have a commitment for annual maintenance of this road, so Friends members and donors remain essential. We are planning a celebration to thank all the Friends members and other donors when the additional work inside the Park is completed, hopefully in the summer of 2021, delayed by COVID pandemic from 2020. The significant donors of $1000 and over in this key road project will be recognized into the future on a plaque to be located at the Sanson Ranch. Again, we thank our members and friends for their support in helping make the vision of opening the Sanson Ranch and buffalo jump for the public a reality. Wind Cave National Park is basically two parks in one, the above-ground treasures, as well as the cave itself. Greatfully,
Donate via PayPalLike us on Facebook |
