Protecting Bats, Wildlife, and People
Abandoned mines pose a risk to the public and a significant liability to owners and land managers, which is why abandoned mine lands (AML) closure programs exist—to eliminate these hazards from the landscape. BCI’s Subterranean Team partners with land management agencies such as The Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, and more to safeguard abandoned mines. The process begins with creating a comprehensive inventory of all abandoned mines within a given area. The team then conducts internal biological surveys to assess habitat quality – whether bats or other wildlife are present, and to what extent they are using the site. Cultural surveys are also carried out to evaluate any historical or archaeological significance, and a NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) review is conducted. Finally, contractors are hired to construct protective closures, many of which are in the form of gates, designed to keep people out and ensure safe passage for bats or other wildlife to enter and exit.
Abandoned Mines are Home to Bats
An increasing human population, expanding development, widespread social media sharing, and greater motor vehicle access have all contributed to a rise in visits to natural caves — many of which serve as critical habitat for bats. This disturbance has caused many bat colonies to abandon natural caves they have roosted in for generations, prompting bat species that rely on subterranean environments to seek shelter in abandoned mines.
Bat-Friendly Gates
Bat-friendly gates are constructed out of steel and include horizontal bars spaced wide enough (typically 6 inches apart) for bats to fly through but too narrow for humans. These gates are constructed in the entrances of abandoned mines and caves and are specially designed to avoid impacting the internal environment which bats depend on.
Abandoned mines and caves that undergo our biological assessments are often candidates for closure and are frequently modified with the installation of bat-friendly gates. These gates serve a dual purpose: first, to promote human safety by restricting access to potentially hazardous environments; and second, to preserve critical habitat for bats by minimizing human disturbance. Human disturbance at a bat roost can lead to stress, displacement, and, in some cases, complete abandonment of the site. By partnering with public land managers in the safeguarding of abandoned mines, BCI’s Subterranean Team is protecting critical bat habitat and improving public safety.
Mining Boom – What’s Left Behind
Since the late 1800s, the demand for minerals has triggered major mining booms across the western United States. As boom turned to bust, miners picked up and moved on to the next prospect. As a result, hundreds of thousands of hard rock mines—including tunnels, shafts, adits, and multi-level subterranean structures—have long since been abandoned. Abandoned mines contain fall hazards, a lack of light, unstable rock, and respiratory dangers such as toxic gases, radioactive materials, asbestos, or coal dust. Wildlife, however, have proven more savvy at navigating these dangers, and these subterranean networks, in search of refuge.
The Subterranean Team
Shawn Thomas – Subterranean Team Lead
Shawn Thomas joined the BCI staff in July, 2014. As Projects Manager for the Subterranean Program, Shawn coordinates projects involving inventories and monitoring of cave and mine-roosting bats. These projects involve working with diverse partners, ranging from federal agencies to private mining companies.
Prior to working for BCI, Shawn specialized in cave management for the National Park Service, having worked for several cave parks in the western U.S., including Carlsbad Caverns National Park (NM), Lava Beds National Monument (CA), Oregon Caves National Monument (OR), Great Basin National Park (NV), and Jewel Cave National Monument (SD).
Outside of work, Shawn’s time is focused on exploring and mapping caves, with active projects in Arizona (Grand Canyon National Park caves), New Mexico (Lechuguilla Cave, Fort Stanton-Snowy River Cave), and Montana (Bob Marshall Wilderness caves).
Jackson Bain – Assistant Subterranean Team Lead
Jackson has been working with BCI’s Subterranean Program since 2017. On the subterranean team, Jackson assists in coordinating projects with federal agencies and private partners inventorying abandoned mines for bat habitat. He graduated from Northern Arizona University with a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and Wildlife Ecology. His professional career has led him to chasing wildlife all over the country, working on research and management projects from Alaska down to Mexico.
Jackson is a proud Arizona local. He became passionate about wildlife at a young age, inspired by the Sonoran Desert surrounding Tucson. He encountered his first bats while exploring abandoned mines in the desert behind his childhood neighborhood. In his spare time, you can find Jackson exploring the vast canyons and mountains of the Southwest, often with his pitbull pal, Ria, by his side.
Josh Hydeman joined Bat Conservation International part-time in October 2021, becoming a full-time staff member in September 2022. He has participated in and led subterranean habitat assessment and evaluation projects for the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, National Park Service, and the Department of Energy.
Prior to joining BCI, Josh worked as a freelance photographer with a specialization in cave research and cave exploration expeditions. His photography assignments have brought him to coffee farms in Ethiopia, the deepest cave in the western hemisphere in Oaxaca, Mexico, and to the volcanic glacier caves of Mount Hood.
Josh’s work has been published by National Geographic, Outside Magazine, Outdoor Photographer, The Explorer’s Club Journal, and used by Petzl, Mountain Hardwear, Garmin, Arcteryx and Subaru. His awards include Best in Show at the National Speleological Society’s Photo Salon and a feature in National Geographic’s special issue, “100 Best Photos: Iconic Images from this Century.”
For more on Josh and his work can be found here
Harrison Tamayo – Subterranean Specialist II
Harrison joined BCI with the Subterranean Team as a part-time technician in July of 2022. In October of 23’ he became a full-time Subterranean Specialist. Most of his job consists of going into abandoned mines and conducting biological surveys, determining if these features host bat habitat. In addition to surveys, he’s also done LIDAR scans, maternity roost monitoring, white-nose syndrome surveillance, as well as cave and mine inventory.
Harrison’s passion for the underground world started when he arrived in the Sonoran Desert. He joined the Arizona Outdoors Club where he got the chance to explore a sulfuric hypogene cave and help collect and study a unique community of microorganisms inhabiting the recently discovered portions of that cave. This lit a fire within Harrison and shortly thereafter he linked up with the Central Arizona Grotto (part of the National Speleological Society) and started going on every caving trip he could. He developed a love for exploring underground spaces and mapping them with his friends. Eventually he got in touch with a graduate student from Dr. Marianne Moore’s Bat Lab at Arizona State University and started joining them on hibernacula surveys. The purpose of these surveys was to establish some baseline numbers for hibernating bat populations in a few northern Arizona caves and to learn about their respective hibernation ecology prior to the arrival of WNS in the state. This experience, over multiple years, left a lasting impact on Harrison and solidified his desire to primarily work in the field and in nature. Since graduating from ASU with a degree in Biological Sciences, Harrison has devoted himself to learning about the natural environment of Arizona and how we can best conserve and protect this beautiful landscape.
Corrie Harrison – Subterranean Specialist II
Corrie joined BCI’s subterranean team in June 2022 and worked in a part time capacity until 2024 where she then became a full time staff member. She has always had a passion for animals and the outdoors and in 2015 graduated from Humboldt State University with a degree in Wildlife Biology. Throughout college and after graduating she worked many different seasonal jobs doing surveys for a diverse array of wildlife species. These surveys ranged from looking for birds, amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, mesocarnivores, and of course why this organization exists, bats!
Corrie got her first bat technician position in 2017 working for a graduate student. This project was looking at northern long-eared bats and fringed myotis summer roosting sites around Jewel Cave National Monument in South Dakota. After spending two summers chasing bats around the southern Black Hills, Corrie knew that she wanted to continue with some aspect of her career helping to conserve these amazing animals.
While working in the Black Hills, Corrie met her wonderful husband, Dillon. They now live in Spokane, WA and (along with their pup Azsuna) can be found hiking, backpacking, climbing, and snowboarding throughout the Inland Northwest.
Dillon Metcalfe – Subterranean Safety Lead
Dillon works on the subterranean team, spending many of his working hours squirming around in caves and abandoned mines all over the American West. This close-up look at bats and their habitat has blossomed into an ever-deepening curiosity about these diverse little fliers. Where do they roost? How do they organize socially, if at all? What do they eat?
These are the questions that drive Dillon deeper and higher into the underground places he goes. He’s worked with Bat Conservation International since the summer of 2016.
Prior to working with BCI, Dillon guided backpacking trips and worked as an NPS ranger in the Grand Canyon, directed conservation corps members on public lands projects, instructed SCUBA students in Thailand, worked in maintenance at Denali National Park in Alaska, and so on. This diverse background has equipped Dillon with a versatile and adaptable skill set that’s applicable in many situations.
Dillon lives in Flagstaff, Arizona. In his free time he enjoys mountain biking and whitewater boating.
Sarah Marquez – Subterranean Specialist II
Sarah started out her career in environmental education teaching science at an outdoor school in Olympic National Park, Washington. She also worked as an Interpretive ranger at Pinnacles National Park and Black Canyon of the Gunnison, giving talks to the public, leading field trips for children, and giving out wilderness permits.
Sarah always had a passion for animals and decided to make the transition into wildlife conservation. After volunteering at the Monterey Bay Aquarium with Southern sea otters in need of rehab before returning to the wild, she got an internship working with endangered California condors at Pinnacles National Park. From there she accepted a seasonal job capturing bats in and around Colorado National Monument, attaching tiny transmitters, and tracking these bats to their roosts throughout the Western Slope of Colorado. Between seasons working as a ski patroller at Powderhorn Mountain in Western Colorado, she worked as a seasonal wildlife technician at Zion National Park. In addition to mist netting and swabbing bats for WNS in and around the park, she explored the remote canyons of Zion completing surveys for Mexican spotted owls. She started part time work with BCI at the end of 2023, excited about expanding her knowledge of bats and getting to explore the mines and caves of the Western U.S.
Sarah lives in Grand Junction, Colorado with her partner, two dogs, a cat, and a bearded dragon. She enjoys spending time outside hiking the local trails, canyoneering, mountain biking, snowboarding, and packrafting.
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KEY COLLABORATORS
- Bureau of Land Management
- Mining Industry
- National Park Service
- State AML Programs
- U.S. Department of Defense
- U.S. Forest Service