Bat and Vegetation Monitoring at MOJN Parks

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A.Project Goals. Personnel from GBI and NPS will collaborate to provide conservation activity experience to individuals hired as biological technicians to assist with monitoring bats and vegetation within National Parks of the Mojave Desert Network (MOJN). B.Project Objectives. The selected individuals will gain experience in natural resource related conservation activities that includes the establishment of bat and vegetation monitoring locations within MOJN parks. Bats have recently become a conservation concern due to the spread of a novel disease known as "White-Nose Syndrome" (WNS) which is caused by a fungus that grows on some bat species while they hibernate which causes the bats to arouse from hibernation more frequently, depleting their fat reserves before spring arrives. The fungus was recently discovered in Washington state and has thus become a greater concern in the western US. This data will serve as reference points for baseline comparisons across the landscape and through time which will be used to manage park resources and contribute to the understanding of the current status of bats and vegetation in arid land systems.

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