National Park Service – Greater Lakes Network (GLKN) Grant for Bat Monitoring in Upper Midwest National Parks

This cooperative agreement and the associated tasks contained within the agreement allow the National Park Service to conduct collaborative research with Northland College, specifically Dr. Erik Olson. The project entails using acoustic monitoring devices to detect and identify bat species in nine national parks in the Upper Midwest. This data will assist park resource managers and inform management decisions within each of the parks as the White Nose Syndrome (WNS) moves through these parks. Currently (March 2018) there has not been a confirmed case of WNS within these national parks which makes this monitoring effort that much more important as the syndrome approaches. This monitoring will allow the parks to track populations and species at specified geographic areas within each of their parks. This cooperative agreement allow the National Park Service to work with Dr. Erik Olson at Northland College who has extensive experience in this type of wildlife research. 

The objective of this Task Agreement is for GLKN and Northland College to cooperate in the coordination of field data collection, data analysis, data management, and reporting of results on bats from up to nine NPS units in the upper midwest.  The project will provide place-based education for Northland College students and quality data for the NPS to assess spatial patterns and trends in bats.  The principal purpose of this project is to engage youth to collect useful data and thereby learn about bat populations and methods for monitoring them.