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2023 will be the fifth and final year of this program and we will receive a comprehensive summary report following that monitoring. If you would like to help with the program please get in touch!
The PWA has participated in the NA Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) since 2019 in partnership with the BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development and the Wildlife Conservation Society Canada (WCSC). NABat monitoring is conducted across North America. The WCSC bat biologist works primarily with BC Parks. The PWA is one of the only non-profit organizations in BC that takes on this monitoring program.
This project collects data on bat populations to observe changes locally and regionally across North America and will help detect the spread of white-nose syndrome.
In early June 2022, volunteers set-up the NABat equipment to complete the fourth year of the ten day spring monitoring. Bats are currently threatened by a virus called white-nose syndrome that has the capacity to completely wipe out colonies. It has recently been detected in Washington close to the BC border. The monitoring entails setting up four acoustic recording stations for ten days and driving a 50km transect at night that records bat activity.
New for 2022 was insect paper – a sticky sheet mounted to the top of the car driving the transect which collected insects to analyze as a food source for bats. Thanks to all the volunteers that helped set up the stations, drove the transects (at 20km/hr it takes a long time to drive Meadows Rd!), and allowed us access to the station sites (including the Sunstone Pemberton Golf Course and BC Parks).
The data collected allows monitoring activity levels of different species and comparative activity over time. The data has been transferred to the Wildlife Conservation Society and will be analyzed by experts.
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