AUDIO: A discussion of coyotes, eagles, bats and owl banding on The Valley Today.

Friends group president Dan McDermott was guest hosting a talk show today. Dan and WZRV afternoon DJ Lonnie Hill discussed the Friends of Shenandoah River State Park and some critters that populate our favorite river destination.

Here is the Audio. (Left-click to play or right-click to Save-As and play from your computer.)

Endangered Virginia big-eared bats to be housed in Front Royal

A big eared bat, courtesy of kristensphotos on Flickr.

USFWS announces grant to to capture healthy bats threatened by deadly fungus

By Dan McDermott
Warren County Report

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced Oct. 26 a $322,000 grant to the Smithsonian Institute’s National Zoo to fund the creation of a permanent secure colony of endangered Virginia big-eared bats at the zoo’s Front Royal, VA-based Conservation and Research Center.

The goal is to establish a healthy population of the bats while scientists work to stop a deadly fungus that threatens the entire species.

According to the USFWS, White-Nose syndrome was first documented near Albany, NY in Feb. 2006 when a caver photographed hibernating bats behaving erratically, many with a strange white substance on their muzzles. Some of the bats had died.

Dr. Jeremy Coleman, endangered species biologist and the USFWS National White-Nose Syndrome Coordinator, said that while it is common for mammals to develop fungal infections, it is very unusual for them to be fatal to a species. Coleman said that some bat species can live for up to 20 years in the wild and reproduce slowly so diseases can have a devastating effect on an already threatened species.

Indirect mortality

CRC staff veterinarian Luis Padilla said that scientists are still trying to determine if the fungus is indeed the pathogen that is causing the deaths of colonies of bats from New England to Virginia and West Virginia. “The fungus leads to their deaths indirectly. The problem is that the fungus irritates them and they are more active during times of normal hibernation. Since it is the winter, there are not the usual food sources available to them and they actually die of starvation,” he said. Padilla said that bats who survive the winter often awake in the spring with wings that have been partially eaten away by the fungus, effecting their flight and further impacting their chances of survival.

Padilla said that the captured bats will be screened for several diseases and healthy specimens will be housed in a building at the CRC that will allow them to be totally secure from other bats to prevent their becoming infected. He said that the goal is to protect a colony and their unique genes in the event the species is wiped out in the wild before a cause and cure for the fungus is found. Padilla also plans to establish protocols and capture techniques through the effort.

USFWS West VA Lead Biologist for VA Big-Eared Bats Barb Douglas said there are about 15,000 big-eared bats remaining in four segments in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky. The largest segment is in West VA where the CRC bats will be captured. Other species are threatened by the fungus, including the little brown bat which numbers in the millions and is not considered endangered.

Bat infections have been reported in New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Virginia.

The CRC award was one of 6 grants announced today totalling $800,000 from the service’s “Preventing Extinction” fund.

American bald eagle flies over the park

This eagle was flying over the Shenandoah River near the low water bridge south of the park at 2:11 pm today. After it flew up the river deeper into the park I drove to the three bends overlook and waited for about half an hour but didn’t see it return. – Dan McDermott

 

More photos

Pop goes the weasel

Members of Friends of Shenandoah River State Park  make a rare dry land appearance at the Festival of Leaves. From left are John Spencer and Jinny and Dick Fox. Jinny is holding a spinner’s weasel or clock reel which, according to Jinny and Wikipedia, is a mechanical yarn measuring device consisting of a spoked wheel with an internal ratcheting mechanism that clicks every two revolutions and makes a “pop” sound after the desired length of yarn is measured. This is also a possible source for the word “weasel” in the nursery rhyme Pop Goes the Weasel. A handleheld reel (with no counter) is called a niddy noddy. But of course you knew that…

More photos from the Festival of Leaves.

Sunset over the Shenandoah River

A view of the sun setting over the Shenandoah River taken at 7 pm 10/10/09 near the lot of Community Tabernacle on Rt. 340 south of Front Royal, VA. Route 340 runs parallel to the river. More photos.

Photos by Friends of Shenandoah River State Park president Dan McDermott

2009 River Park Cleanup

See more videos or pictures.

From Cyndi Juarez, District III Visitor Services Specialist, Virginia State Parks

A letter from the self proclaimed Assistant Trash Coordinator, Dick Fox:

Greetings all – on behalf of the Friends of Shenandoah River State Park, I just wanted to drop a note of thanks to everyone for the stellar support of our very successful river cleanup event Saturday, Sept. 20.  Here’s a summary of what we collected:

1340 lb. of trash total (assuming Brett Clawson’s “shoulder scale” was properly calibrated!) 40 bags of trash (apprx.) 7 tires 1 beach umbrella 1 muffler 1 tractor steering wheel 5 cinder blocks several bricks 1 large tarp selected men’s and ladies undergarments too many aluminum cans and plastic bottles to count

We had 26 state park volunteers participating, two fantastic canoe companies, our Park’s chief ranger and two other rangers, and even an ace reporter from the Warren County report. If life is fair, maybe we’ll even make the next edition!

A special vote of thanks to Don Roberts of Front Royal Canoe Company and John Gibson of Downriver Canoe for your leadership and support of our community project – and for the loan of those canoes that started out clean and came back very dirty!

To Tony Widmer, Andy Davis, Brett Clawson, Donna Smith, Ben Thomas, and Stan Miller for all your support and hard work. For Cyndi Juarez for all the advertising and GREAT banners. And to our Site Captain Jinny Fox and Trash Judge Brian Bennett for getting things organized.

To Dan McDermott who recorded the event and made us all feel like national heroes. To our Friends members Leah Peyton and Jane Whitney for coming out and getting down and dirty for a great cause. And for all the other volunteers – they really got their feet wet! And, they got a warm welcome and initiation to become Friends of the Park and attend our next meeting.

Dick Fox, Assistant Trash Coordinator

Our Heartfelt thanks to all of our participants and especially the Friends of Shenandoah River State Park. We look forward to working together on many more fun and meaningful projects.

Everyone is welcome to attend Friends meetings at 7 PM on the first Tuesday of the month at the park’s Visitor Center.

This event was another great way to connect children in nature and was a Kaboom! Play Day event. As a Chesapeake Bay Gateways location the river clean up at Shenandoah River State Park also helped to protect Chesapeake Bay Nature and provided a meaningful Virginia outdoor adventure for all participants.

On the River ‘09

Above: Front Royal, VA Environmental Services Director Steve Burke peers over some heads to check out a display of wild things at the Shenandoah River State Park table at On The River ‘09, a celebration organized by Friends of the Shenandoah River that saw a huge turnout in its first year! Front Row from left are Andrew and Madelynn Burke and Dannah and Caz Lohr from Bunker Hill, WV. Below: Andrew touches the fin of a fish caught hours earlier by state biologists while Madelynn appears fairly grossed out!  [More Pictures Here]

Friends support the Junior Park Rangers program

Friends member Marge Groetsch teaches a class of Junior Park Rangers about trees. [More pictures here]

Learning about our rich Paleo Indian history

Friends group members recently traveled to New Market to view ancient Paleo Indian artifacts kept by the National Park Service. The Paleo Indians built the first-known structures in the North American continent at Thunderbird Farms in Warren County. Learn more about Paleo Indians. [More pictures here]

Keeping our park clean

Shenandoah River State Park Chief Ranger Brett Clawson holds a fishing line disposal container built by park friends group member Brian Bennett, middle. At right is Assistant Park Manager Andy Davis.