An abandoned mine in Idaho is now prime habitat for bats

This story was originally published by Columbia Insight.

The bats of Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge have a new roost to call home this winter. An orphan mine on protected land around Bear Lake in southeastern Idaho was sealed years ago to prevent human entry. This meant that the mine was also closed to wildlife such as bats.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USWS) worked with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, the Bureau of Land Management, the Idaho Department of Lands and mining company Synesco to open the mine entrance to allow bats to enter the long, winding tunnels Mine can stay overnight.

On October 21, the mine officially opened to bats.

Nowadays, habitat for bats is scarce. North America’s 154 species are facing extreme population declines due to habitat loss, climate change and even wind turbines. Of these 154 species, 47 hibernate and therefore may also be vulnerable to population decline due to the scourge of white-nose syndrome.

This has made old mines an attractive prospect for bat conservation efforts. Across the country, orphan mines are being repurposed as habitat for bats.

But USFWS biologist Daniel Nolfi told it Columbia Insight The Bear Lake project was particularly intensive because it required reopening a mine that was no longer accessible.

The entrance was dug out and then gated to keep people out but allow bats entry. Synesco owns title to the mine and has covered the costs of the project.

Mines can also help curb the spread of white-nose syndrome (WNS), a disease that has ravaged bat populations across the United States.

WNS infects hibernating bats, waking them from sleep and causing them to burn all their fat stores before winter is over. Infected bats – often entire colonies – starve.

The disease was first discovered in New York in 2006 and has since spread westward from state to state, killing an estimated 6.7 million bats.

The fungus that causes the disease Pseudogymnoascus destructans, or PD, was first discovered in 2022 in Minnetonka Cave in Idaho. This cave is right next to Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge.

“Research suggests that the temperature of hibernation sites may influence the severity of WNS,” Nolfi said Columbia Insight in an email. “Artificial habitats such as mines enable more intensive control measures for WNS. Opening mines to bats can be done in a way that creates desired temperature conditions, potentially resulting in reduced WNS impacts to the bats that use these habitats.”

Nolfi said up to eight different species of bats use the Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge, including little brown bats, a species whose population has declined significantly across North America due to WNS. (An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that little brown bats were a federally endangered species. -Editor)

The USFWS Idaho office contracts with other mining companies for similar projects on federal and private lands in southeastern Idaho, a region known for its phosphate mines.

“The goal is to evaluate opportunities to provide habitat for bats while maintaining closures for people’s safety,” Nolfi said.

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