River Relief

February 22, 2011

March 8 Big Muddy Speaker Series

"Bats of Missouri and the spread of White Nose Syndrome"

presented by Kathryn Womack, University of Missouri graduate student, bat rehabilitator

7:00 p.m. - Tues. March 8, 2011
lower floor of the
Les Bourgeois Vineyards Bistro
in Rocheport, MO
(directions below)
Presentation is FREE!
Come early to purchase a great dinner upstairs at the Bistro!

(note: our originally scheduled presenter Duane Chapman ("Invasion Carp") has rescheduled for April 12. Thanks Kathryn for stepping up!)

Join us for our monthly Big Muddy Speaker Series at the Les Bourgeois Bistro.

One of the names for Missouri is the "Cave State". Right around the town of Glasgow, the Missouri River dives south into the border of the Ozark uplift, where limestone hollows hide thousands of caves carved into the rock by eons of water flowing through it.

Many of these caves are home at some time of the year for Missouri's many species of bats. Graduate student and bat rehabilitator Kathryn Womack will introduce us to the world of Missouri bats and their biggest threat right now.

If you paddle down the Missouri River past Boone Cave below Rocheport on a summer night, you'll be greeted by a cloud of bats feeding, spreading out from the big cave. Bats are an integral part of the ecology of night in Missouri. Unfortunately it appears we're about to find out what the impact will be if bats are suddenly missing from the equation.

Kathryn Womack, a Fisheries & Wildlife graduate student, has been studying the ecology of Indiana bats during the summer months, when they move out of their cave hibernaculums to raise their young in nursery trees. As the latest threat to bats, White Nose Syndrome (WNS), has been found in Missouri, Womack has been working on a protocol for treating infected bats.

Kathryn will be sharing her knowledge of Missouri's bat diversity as well as the latest in the science of fighting WNS. She'll be bringing a few of her winged friends to meet us.

Directions

• Take I-70 to the Rocheport, MO, exit (Exit #115). It's the first exit east of the Missouri River.
• Head north toward Rocheport.
• After about a mile, turn left at the sign for Les Bourgeois Bistro. Follow the signs to the Bistro. You will probably need to park in the lot above the Bistro and walk the trail down.
• The presentations are held in the lower level. You can either enter at the restaurant entrance then go down the stairs to your left past the bar, or you can follow the walk to the right of the restaurant and enter through a glass door into the lower level.
  
• 14020 W. Hwy BB, Rocheport, MO (click for Google Map)