With white-nose syndrome continuing to kill millions of bats, the Nature Conservancy of Tennessee wants to earn online votes to win $250,000 to build an artificial bat cave.
So far in the Pepsi Refresh Project, the "Save America's Bats" idea is in the top third of vote-getters out of 1,137 contest entries.
If it wins, the conservancy wants to use the money to construct an artificial bat cave as a treatment and research facility.
"We have fungicides that will kill this fungus and save the bats, but if you use it in a regular cave, you would kill everything else there and it would get into the groundwater and be disastrous," said Cory Holliday, with the Tennessee chapter of the Nature Conservancy.
Bats are among nature's primary controllers of mosquito and agricultural bug pests. In four years since the fungus was found in New York and began spreading throughout the East to 14 states and Canada, white-nose syndrome has ravaged whole populations of bats, scientists say.
White-nose syndrome is associated with a newly identified fungal species that grows on bats' noses and wings, weakening the animals and causing them to die of starvation during the winter.
Researchers know of at least six infected caves in Tennessee.
"We expect it to be worse this [hibernation] year," Holliday said.
HOW TO VOTE* Log on to http://www.refresheverything.com/saveamericasbats* Click on "vote for this idea"* Sign in* Vote once a day through Nov. 30 for up to 10 ideasSources: Tennessee Nature Conservancy, PepsiSPENDING THE CASH* $35,000 -- Site excavation and laying of foundation* $198,000 -- Construction of artificial bat cave and security fencing* $17,000 -- Monitoring and data collection on bats in artificial caveSource: Cory Holliday, Nature Conservancy of TennesseePDF: WNS National Plan Draft
Gray bats, which were about to be considered for removal from the federal endangered species list, could easily be wiped out by the disease "in just a couple of winters," he said.
So the Nature Conservancy wants to build an underground hibernation cave near an existing cave in Middle Tennessee.
"Artificial caves have been successful bat roosts, but winter hibernation sites have not been attempted before," the Pepsi Refresh entry states. "Our artificial cave will be a safe haven for bats to hibernate in winter, and a test site for [white-nose syndrome] treatments."
People nationwide can vote once a day through Nov. 30 for their favorite 10 ideas in four funding categories: $5,000, $25,000, $50,000 and $250,000.
The two top-ranked ideas at the end of the month in the $250,000 category will be funded, according to Pepsi's website, www.refreshevery thing.com.
Mollie Matteson, conservation advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity, applauded the idea and the Nature Conservancy's initiative.
"It sounds like it's something worth trying," said Matteson, an outspoken critic of federal planning to handle the white-nose epidemic, which she calls "a wildlife emergency."
Matteson took the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to task for its "slow-motion response to what biologists call one of the worst wildlife declines in American history."
"The federal government [last week] finally released a national response plan for white-nose syndrome. But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's plan is still only in draft form and only provides a conceptual framework for responding to the disease," she said. "It lists no specific action items and makes no concrete recommendations for research and management of the fast-spreading malady that has hit nine bat species so far, including two on the endangered species list."
Holliday said if the Pepsi Refresh contest effort fails, the Nature Conservancy will continue to seek private funding for its artificial cave.
"We don't want to compete with (white-nose syndrome) research efforts for money," he said. "So we've made a conscious decision to seek only private money."
Other regional 'good ideas'
* Southeastern Climbers Coalition is seeking $250,000 to purchase and preserve 38 acres of cliff lines and boulder land near the Cumberland Trail in Tennessee and another 40 acres of cliff and boulder land in Alabama.
* Tennessee Wesleyan College Athletics is seeking $250,000 to renovate the school's gymnasium
* Dalton, Ga., Creative Arts Guild is seeking $25,000 to integrate arts with academics in a center for challenged children.
Source: www.refresheverything.com
View an animated map from the Center for Biological Diversity by following this link: