As you likely know, White-Nose Syndrome is seriously impacting several species of bats in the east and is likely to spread as time goes on. It is too soon to tell how fast it will spread to major hibernacula in the Midwest, if an intervention can be formulated, or a natural response will slow or stop the disease. Regardless, federal and state agencies are reacting to the concerns. While some precautions and closures are warranted, some agencies are at a loss and are probably overreacting by closing down everything in an attempt to do something. It is too soon to judge if that is appropriate or necessary, but it is what it is.

The IKC, being an owner and manager of several caves, some purchased or managed for the protection of bats, while others focused on recreation or other resources, also needed to decide what is best for the bats in some situations, and what is reasonable for cavers in others. As such the IKC Board has been discussing and debating for over a month and have consulted with agencies and other land management organizations. With the winter closures at three of our caves ending May 1st, we wanted to have an appropriate decision for those caves and have it communicated to the various Grotto Liaisons (which we did last Friday). As such, the Board adopted the following policy:

"As a preventative measure for White-Nose Syndrome, the IKC will suspend 2009 summer visitation at Coon, Grotto, and Robinson Ladder caves except for approved scientific research. Access to other IKC managed caves will remain open with the added stipulation of practicing appropriate 'safe' cave gear/clothing precautions."

So for the three bat caves, we have asked the Grotto Liaisons to suspend access for this summer (and I suspect this will be extended in the future). For the other caves owned or managed by the IKC, we think we are being responsible by simply asking all visitors to these caves to take precautions in making sure their gear and clothing are clean/decontaminated before visiting. This is especially true for any cavers who have caved in the 17 eastern states identified by the USFWS as being at potential risk for WNS. We hope to have more information posted on the IKC website soon, but there are already a number of good websites accessible from the NSS website on decontamination procedures and other recommendations to prevent transportation of fungus spores.

We don't anticipate any additional changes to our policies in the near future, but this whole WNS issue has been very dynamic, so it's difficult to predict the future.

Feel free to e-mail me or call me or another board member if you have additional questions or concerns. As always, we appreciate your support.

Sincerely for the Board,