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FERRISBURGH and FAIR HAVEN, VT – The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department is looking for volunteer citizen scientists to count bats around the state this summer and is offering trainings to the public on Friday, June 21, in Ferrisburgh and Friday, June 28, in Fair Haven from 8 p.m. to after dusk. The little brown bat is endangered in Vermont, and long-term volunteer monitoring is critical to its management and recovery.
The events will begin with Alyssa Bennett, small mammals biologist at the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, providing a brief presentation about these rare, insect-eating mammals, including their natural history and threats, and ways the public can help conserve bats and enhance their habitats. After the presentation, volunteers will receive training and be matched with monitoring sites. The talks and trainings are free and open to the public.
“Because they prefer to roost in buildings and bat houses, Vermont’s endangered little brown bats depend on us for their continued survival,” said Bennett. “Vermont’s endangered little brown bats suffered massive population declines of up to 90 percent due to the deadly fungal disease, White-nose Syndrome. But thanks to the help of dedicated citizen scientists who monitor these rare colonies of female bats and their young, we have shown that the small, surviving population appears to be holding steady in our state.”
Locations include:
Jen Cirillo from the Ferrisburgh Conservation Commission will also be at the Rokeby Museum event to organize local volunteers monitoring bats at three local colonies in the Ferrisburgh area. She can be contacted at 802-318-7197. Vermont Fish and Wildlife intern Kevin Ostrander will coordinate volunteers at other colonies around the state and can be reached at kevin.ostrander@partner.vermont.gov
For more information please contact Alyssa Bennett at Alyssa.bennett@vermont.gov. To find out if an event is cancelled due to weather, please call 802-353-4818 on the day of the event.
For directions and to register, go to http://www.vtfishandwildlife.com
Media Contacts: Alyssa Bennett, Vt Fish & Wildlife, 802-353-4818; Catherine Brooks, Rokeby Museum (802) 877-3406; Jen Cirillo, Ferrisburgh Conservation Commission 802-318-7197