© 2024 Aspen Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
The environment desk at Aspen Public Radio covers issues in the Roaring Fork Valley and throughout the state of Colorado including water use and quality, impact of recreation, population growth and oil and gas development. APR’s Environment Reporter is Elizabeth Stewart-Severy.

Plan to protect bats keeps cave closed

Hubbard Cave outside of Glenwood has been closed to humans since 2010, and officials with the White River National Forest are proposing keeping it this way for the next three years. The move is an effort to prevent White Nose Syndrome, which has killed more than 6 million bats in the eastern United States.

“If White Nose Syndrome shows up, cave bats die,”said wildlife biologist Phil Nyland. “We want to prevent White Nose Syndrome showing up in the west.”

Nyland said that humans may transmit the fungus that causes White Nose Syndrome on their clothes or equipment.

Bats play an important role in ecosystems as they eat insects, and they have many unique biological characteristics.

The Forest Service proposal includes extending the closure of Hubbard Cave and installing bat-friendly grates. Public comment is open through Monday, Sept. 12.

 

Aspen native Elizabeth Stewart-Severy is excited to be making a return to both the Red Brick, where she attended kindergarten, and the field of journalism. She has spent her entire life playing in the mountains and rivers around Aspen, and is thrilled to be reporting about all things environmental in this special place. She attended the University of Colorado with a Boettcher Scholarship, and graduated as the top student from the School of Journalism in 2006. Her lifelong love of hockey lead to a stint working for the Colorado Avalanche, and she still plays in local leagues and coaches the Aspen Junior Hockey U-19 girls.
Related Content
  • Welcome to Valley Roundup. I’m Carolyn SackariasonJoining me this week are Snowmass Sun editor Jill Beathard, Aspen Daily News Editor Curtis Wackerle,…