A workshop sponsored by the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines (MNDM) will provide insight into the need to protect bats during mine closure.
It is estimated that more than half of the bats in North America inhabit abandoned mines during hibernation.
The predators help to control many agricultural and forest pests. Often, however, when old mine workings are sealed off, large numbers of bats are trapped, and die as a result.
Up to 1 million hibernating bats may exist in a single mine.
The workshop, co-sponsored by Science North, Inco, Falconbridge, and WOM Associates, will be held at the ministry’s Willet Green Miller Centre in Sudbury on Aug. 22-23.
Participants will visit an abandoned mine, where instructors will demonstrate effective bat survey techniques.
More information is available from Diana Schoeffman at the MNDM. Phone: (705) 670-5968.
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