Continued Post-WNS Bat Surveys in Shenandoah National Park

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This announcement is not a request for applications. This announcement is to provide public notice of the National Park Service’s intention to award a task agreement under a previously competed or single source justified master cooperative agreement. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University will provide the following deliverables: Species Data Copies of netting capture and acoustic recording data tallies will be provided to NPS personnel as recorded on field data sheets and transferred to Microsoft Excel using the NPS I&M database template. Raw echolocation files as well as identification software results will be provided as frequency division zero‐cross.dat files and pdf screen captures or Microsoft Excel output. All data will be entered and verified by the investigator. The investigator will be responsible for implementing and documenting quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) measures used to assure the accuracy of the data. QA/QC documentation will be provided to the NPS with all databases. GPS Data GPS coordinates for all sampling locations will be provided to NPS. The investigators also will provide GPS coordinates of any other opportunistic captures or sampling sites. Each sampling location will have an associated data table containing a list of species captured and descriptors of the sampling site. Metadata Metadata for all biological data sets will be provided following NPS guidelines. Voucher Specimens Photo documentation will be the primary voucher source for capture bats. All voucher photos will be submitted in JPEG or TIFF format with accompanying documentation in MS Word. All data associated with voucher specimens will be provided to NPS personnel. Only bats collected due to capture mortality/injury will be preserved as voucher specimens. Although all specimens collected within the park will remain property of the NPS, they may be housed at the Virginia Tech Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation Mammalogy Teaching Collection. Reports A progress report will be submitted in MS‐Word format electronically on or before 30 September 2018. Investigator’s Annual Reports (IARs) will be completed electronically/online on or before 31 March of each calendar year that this Agreement is in effect, including the year of completion. A draft final report will be submitted digitally in MS‐Word format on or before 30 November 2018. A final report will be submitted electronically in MS‐Word format on or before 31 January 2019 using the NPS Natural Resources Report Series template. The draft final and final reports will include summary of findings including species presence and relative abundance estimates, sampling methods, analyses, results, project significance, sensitive species information and issues, and recommendations for long‐term monitoring for use by NPS staff. The final report will also include all capture data (legible field sheets and Excel database format), database data‐dictionary, metadata, voucher photographs and location of voucher specimens, and GPS data for sampling locations as described above.

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