Volume 10, Issue 1, Spring 1992

THE FIRST TEN YEARS

Milestones

By Tuttle, Merlin D.


Milestones

1982
•BCI founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on March 12, 1982

•Game warden hired to protect bats of Khao Chong Pran Cave in Thailand

•Government ban on quarrying saves Rakang Cave in Thailand

•"Bats and Public Health" distributed to all state health departments in the United States

1983
•Judges Cave, Florida's largest maternity roost for endangered gray bats, protected
•BCI gains support for Thai student's endangered bumblebee bat study in Thailand
•BCI's first audiovisual program, "Saving America's Bats," and 100,000 brochures funded by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
•200 "Saving America's Bats" distributed by USFWS to government agencies nationwide

1984
•Wisconsin legislates ban on use of pesticides against bats
•BCI study in East Africa demonstrates claims of fruit bat damage to crops are badly exaggerated
•1 million copies of Bacardi Imports' booklet, "The Most Famous Bat in the World," published, setting the record straight about bats

1985
• Cooperative effort protects Hubbards Cave, Tennessee, one of North America's three most important bat hibernation sites, with gate
•Flying foxes added to protected list in New South Wales, Australia
•BCI research project funded to investigate bat values in Old World tropical ecosystems
•IUCN places bumblebee bat on 12 most•endangered list as result of 1983 study
•BCI initiates discussions with Governor A.P. Lutali in American Samoa to protect flying foxes from commercial hunting and to set aside lands for a national park to further safeguard their survival
•Second BCI audiovisual program, "Bats: Myth & Reality," produced

1986
•BCI moves headquarters from Milwaukee Public Museum to University of Texas at Austin
•American Samoa passes legislation protecting flying foxes from commercial hunting, and establishes game laws
•Major educational campaign in Israel halts poisoning of bat caves with BCI assistance
•BCI initiates efforts in Texas to protect Bracken Cave, world's largest bat colony, and to save Congress Avenue Bridge bat colony, largest urban colony, from destruction

1987
•With assistance from BCI, young member succeeds in obtaining a legislative ban against the pesticide, Rozol, being used against bats in North Dakota
• BCI testifies at congressional hearings to establish national park in American Samoa
•BCI assists in successful efforts to add nine species of flying foxes to CITES Appendix II, regulating international trade
•Samanar Hill bat caves saved from quarrying activity in India
•Study to investigate bat values in Old World tropics completed, revealing over 300 plant species that rely on bats, with 450 commercial products derived from bat•dependent plants
•New York Botanical Garden sponsors joint field study with BCI in French Guiana

1988
•BCI works with National Speleological Society to prepare and assure passage of National Cave Resources Protection Act in the United States
•Samoan National Park bill signed by President Reagan, creating first tropical rain forest national park, and protecting flying foxes
•BCI and World Wildlife Fund initiate comprehensive education campaign in Costa Rica, resulting in production of educational materials for distribution throughout Latin America
•America's Neighborhood Bats published by University of Texas Press

1989
•National Geographic Society funds Sonoran Desert Bat•Cactus Project, two•year field research begins
•BCI takes part in CITES conference in Lausanne, Switzerland; flying foxes added to Appendix I of the CITES treaty, making international trade illegal
•BCI Chairman Verne Read receives 1989 Chevron Conservation Award for his efforts on behalf of Pacific island flying foxes
•Survival Anglia and BCI begin filming documentary, "The Secret World of Bats," for CBS television
•First 10•day bat ecology field workshop offered to train wildlife biologists and others in techniques for the study of bats
•"Bats of America" audiovisual program and poster produced

1990
•BCI acquires two•thirds ownership in Bracken Cave, world's largest known maternity colony of bats, in central Texas
•BCI and Texas Nature Conservancy begin joint management and protection of Eckert James River Bat Cave in central Texas
•Austin, Texas dedicates BCI educational exhibit at Congress Avenue Bridge bat colony and declares itself America's bat capital
•BCI hosts 14 island nations and countries at landmark Pacific Island Flying Fox Conference in Honolulu, resulting in new cooperation and understanding for conservation of flying foxes
•USFWS places first wildlife officer on Guam to enforce CITES treaty
•Survey for flying foxes conducted on five Pacific islands
•Sonoran Desert Bat•Cactus Project concludes field studies, revealing importance of endangered long•nosed bats to three species of giant cacti
•BCI assists conservation group in American Samoa with intensive educational campaign after hurricane devastates flying fox habitat
•BCI co•sponsors major traveling educational exhibit in Israel
•First series of one•day bat study workshops held, focusing on teaching participants how to develop interpretive programs and solve community problems with bats
•Austin, Texas schools initiate B.A.T. (Bat Awareness Team) Clubs with assistance from BCI

1991
•Society for Conservation Biology selects BCI for 1991 Distinguished Achievement Award
•"The Secret World of Bats" airs in Europe and Australia and is named Best Science Documentary of the Year in 8th French Television Festival for Science and Documentary Films
•America's Neighborhood Bats receives The Wildlife Society's 1991 Conservation Education Award
•BCI hosts 21st Annual Meeting of the North American Symposium on Bat Research
•Pilot study conducted in central Texas to determine bat use of bridges and to design roost sites into bridges
•Began campaign to alert mining and conservation officials of impact of proposed changes to General Mining Law on bats
•Cooperative efforts to form conservation plan for U.S. migratory bat species begun with Mexican biologists; survey of bat cave populations conducted in Mexico
•BCI helps support study on cultural significance of fruit bats in Guam, which will assist with future educational efforts
•BCI participates in major cooperative survey of flying foxes in Palau
•Pilot study conducted to help important Guatemalan bat cave
•BCI supports study of coastal Peru's unique and threatened bat fauna
•Educator's Activity Book About Bats published by BCI for elementary educators
•Permanent educational exhibit erected at Eckert James River Bat Cave
•First bat natural history tour to Costa Rica organized for members

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