A Historical Overview

To understand the connection between bat refuge and abandoned mine land in the U.S., we need to take a deeper, acronym-heavy dive into the history and collaborative work it took to get where we are today.

The Department of Energy, Office of Legacy Management (DOE-LM), Defense-Related Uranium Mines Program (DRUM) kicked off in 2017 with a focus on 3,472 legacy uranium mines located on lands managed by federal, state and tribal, and private owners. The mines under DRUM oversight have a production history from around 1947 to 1970 and provided uranium ore to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission for defense-related activities. In 2020, BCI’s Habitat Protection & Restoration Program (HP&R) officially entered partnership with DOE-LM to support their DRUM effort.

Many of these abandoned mines have become significant habitat for bats as they seek refuge from encroachment by human development.

“The DOE DRUM/BCI partnership was born over a decade ago when the DOE was planning to conduct field verifications of abandoned uranium mines,” says HP&R Director, Jason Corbett. “We have formed an exceptional partnership in helping the DOE DRUM Program with their mission, while also accomplishing ours by protecting critical roosting habitats for bats in abandoned uranium mines.”

The primary objective is to safeguard hazardous abandoned mines, but it is also vitally important to protect wildlife habitat and cultural resources.In this way, the process takes a holistic approach to conservation.

The DRUM safeguarding effort is dynamic, with each partner bringing their own set of mandates and resource considerations. For instance, when safeguarding hazardous features on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land, BLM is responsible for ensuring that DRUM projects adhere to federal environmental regulations and BLM management directives. The Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety (CO DRMS), which oversees abandoned mines across the state, facilitates the mine safeguarding process.

In March 2024, the DOE invited project partners involved in abandoned mine lands (AML) work in Colorado, including BCI, the BLM, CO DRMS, and contractors to collaborate and discuss ongoing and future work in the state. The meeting took place in Gateway, Colorado, a one-gas-pump town at the geological confluence of the Unaweep and Dolores River Canyons in the heart of Colorado’s uranium country.

BCI’s Multifaceted Role in the DRUM Program

BCI plays an integral role in the mine closure process. Our Subterranean Team leads the underground mine surveys and documents signs of bat use, which may include live or dead bats, guano, and insect parts indicative of feeding. The survey teams also record other wildlife use at the site and use those observations to make (or form) their closure recommendations.

Concurrently, a cultural resource team visits the same sites to record notable cultural resources and comply with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. This work may be done in-house by BCI’s Cultural Team, a sub-contractor, or a partner cultural resource specialist.

“BCI’s Cultural Resources team conducts archaeological surveys before the mines are closed,” says Autumn Cool, BCI’s Cultural Resources Coordinator. “We study the history and physical remains of the abandoned mines to ensure that historically important places are recorded and protected during our work.”

BCI plays an integral role in the mine closure process. Our Subterranean Team leads the underground mine surveys and documents signs of bat use.

After all the surveys are complete, BCI helps to coordinate the development of documentation to satisfy National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements that apply to federal projects. BCI works hand-in-hand with the project partners to develop the NEPA document. BCI also assists in the final stages of the safeguarding process to ensure that mine closures do not adversely affect any natural or cultural resources that may exist at the project sites.

“The relationship with the DOE has facilitated the growth of the HP&R program over the last few years and has allowed us to expand our program offerings,” says Aaron Sidder, BCI’s Compliance & Ecology Coordinator. “It is truly a win-win: our expertise has helped the agency act quickly to make public lands safer, and we’ve been able to protect a lot of bat habitat in the process.”

DOE’s DRUM program sunsets in 2030. BCI plans to continue partnership with DOE through the end of the DRUM program. Meanwhile, mine safeguarding continues. In Colorado, three projects are scheduled for construction in 2025 and many more in the works for the following years. Additional DRUM safeguarding projects are also underway in Montana, Utah, and Wyoming.

Learn more about BCI’s Abandoned Mine Land program work. 

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New Zealand has only two native species of land mammals, both of which are bats. The long-tailed bat (Chalinolobus tuberculatus lives throughout the islands, while the lesser short-tailed bat (Mystacina tuberculata, which comprises three subspecies, is found in geographically restricted areas of the North and South islands, as well as a few of the smaller islands of the Pacific nation. Māori folklore refer to bats as pekapeka and associates them with the mythical, night-flying bird, hōkioi, which foretells death or disaster.

A third species, the greater short-tailed bat (Mystacina robusta, had been found on two small islands off the southern end of the South Island. Last seen in 1967, they are almost certainly extinct, victims of ship rats introduced to New Zealand. Without diligent conservation efforts, that fate threatens the remaining bat species as well.

Although their names suggest a close relationship, short-tailed and long-tailed bats are not closely related and are from different bat families. The long-tailed bat is a Vespertilionid, one of the most diverse and widely distributed bat families. Short-tailed bats are the only surviving species of the bat family Mystacinidae.

Recent paleontology field work has found short-tailed bats to have been among the first creatures to colonize New Zealand, predating the arrival of iconic species of the islands, such as the kiwi, by millions of years. No one is certain how they reached the shores of the islands, but scientists speculate that they arrived from Australia as long as 16- to 18-million years ago. Long-tailed bats are relative newcomers, landing in New Zealand around two-million years ago. They are closely related to bat species in Australia.

Through the 1800s, the long-tailed bat remained quite common throughout New Zealand, but by the turn of the 20th century, they had grown scarce in many regions. Today, the New Zealand Department of Conservation classifies the conservation status of this small, chestnut brown bat as ThreatenedNationally Critical, the most serious designation, meaning the species faces “an immediate high risk of extinction.” Two subspecies of the short-tailed bat are listed as Threatened, facing possible extinction; the third is moderately common but still declining in numbers.

Logging, converting wildlands into agricultural and urban areas, and introduced predator species, such as rats and stoats, are among the threats for both species. Despite their dwindled numbers, New Zealanders can still sometimes see long-tailed bats, as they take wing at dusk in rural areas and along forest edges, fluttering like large butterflies. Sightings in urban areas are rare, however townsfolk of Geraldine, a small town on the South Island, are often treated to views of long-tailed bats as they emerge from the nearby Talbot Forest Scenic Preserve to catch their diet of mosquitoes, moths, midges, and beetles on the fly.

Unlike almost all other bats, short-tailed bats walk, spending up to 40 percent of their foraging time scurrying over fallen tree branches and forest floors.

Unlike almost all other bats, short-tailed bats walk, spending up to 40 percent of their foraging time scurrying over fallen tree branches and forest floors pursuing their diet of insects, fruit, nectar, and pollen. Walking on backwards facing feet and the equivalent of their wrists might seem awkward, but these bats scurry about with great agility. Secondary talons, unique to the species, at the base of the toe claw and the bat’s equivalent of their thumbs increase their ability to grab hold of the forest substrate. Their feet pads also possess tiny grooves, enabling them to adhere to surfaces, much as geckos do.

These light grey bats with large pointy ears can hide their wings beneath a leathery membrane and fold back their long ears as they dive under leaf litter to seek their meals. They have broad wings with tough membranes, attributes that serve them well when they have the task of taking flight from the forest floor. Evidence suggests that these omnivorous bats are important pollinators of the rare and endangered wood rose, a fully parasitic native flowering plant native to New Zealand that grows on the roots of forest trees. Although, this bat will crawl under snow, it will go into short-term torpor during the wettest days of summers or the coldest times of winter. Long-tailed bats will also go into torpor during these times.

As conservation assessments continue, researchers have found a bit of good news for both species. Numbers of long-tailed bats had been dwindling by five percent annually, but, starting in 1990, a conservation effort controlling exotic predators has turned things around, and the bat’s population has been increasing by four percent per year. Recovery for the short-tailed bat has been even better. A population of only 300 in the Eglinton Valley on the South Island grew to almost 3,000 in 2018. Other populations of short-tailed bats have increased, leading to an overall increase of 65 percent of their numbers.

These increasing numbers are heartening, yet naturalists in New Zealand warn that if predator control doesn’t continue, extinction for both species is almost certain. And through everything from research scholarships to habitat restoration Bat Conservation International is helping to ensure a future for New Zealand’s bats and other bat species throughout the world.

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