Indiana bat roost identified at the Refuge; 252 bats emerged from this tree. Photo: M. Kitchell

Indiana bat with radiotransmitter. Photo: L. Wight

The 2008 'bat crew' inspects a recent catch. Photo: K. Cummings

Conducting night telemetry on a transmittered Indiana bat. Photo: M. Kitchell

The New Jersey Field Office (NJFO) and the NJ Natural Lands Trust worked with Morristown Municipal Airport to secure a $76,000 donation to Great Swamp NWR in support of ongoing Indiana bat research.  The airport is located approximately 5 miles east of the refuge, and in 2006 environmental consultants captured a juvenile male Indiana bat during surveys there. 

The funding will allow the refuge to hire 4 summer interns and a crew leader, and purchase the equipment necessary to conduct extensive Indiana bat surveys and telemetry through 2010.  The funding also provides for the involvement of contractors and William Paterson University professor Lance Risley (who has been involved with the project since 2005) and funds a 6-month community outreach and education position to facilitate the distribution of Indiana bat-related materials and information.  In exchange for the donation, the "bat crew" will conduct mist net surveys and telemetry at the airport, which should help reveal additional areas that are providing habitat for this endangered species.

This past summer marked the third year of what will be at minimum a 5-year project, making Great Swamp NWR among the very few sites to have long-term data on maternity colonies of Indiana bats, and the only such project in the northeast.  In 2008, survey efforts resulted in the capture and marking of 35 animals, including 20 reproductive females and 5 juveniles; and radiotelemetry conducted on 21 individuals resulted in the identification of 60 roost trees.  Since 2006, 122 Indiana bats have been marked at the refuge and 130 roost trees have been identified.  Refuge employee Marilyn Kitchell recently completed her masters thesis on the project, and current graduate student Lindsey Wight (William Paterson University) will lead the project through 2009.  Both have worked closely with academic advisor Lance Risley, NJFO biologist Annette Scherer, and refuge staff.  Previous funds for the project have come from Northeast Region's National Wildlife Refuge System (Challenge Cost Share grants) and Ecological Services.