Congress allotted $4 million to study and combat white-nose syndrome, a serious disease that had already caused extensive losses among North American bats.

At the time of the appropriation, white-nose syndrome had been linked to a bat cave near Albany, New York, in 2006 and had subsequently been documented across 16 states and four Canadian provinces. The fungus associated with the disease had also been detected on bats without visible symptoms in three additional states.

Several affected species—including the little brown bat, northern long-eared bat and eastern small-footed bat—were under consideration for federal endangered-species protection. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was reviewing their status as researchers assessed the scale of population decline.

What the appropriation covered

  • $4 million was designated from the 2012 endangered-species recovery fund.
  • The funding was intended for research and management of white-nose syndrome.
  • The Department of the Interior was responsible for directing the federal response.
  • The measure addressed both wildlife conservation and the wider ecological effects of bat losses.

Bat populations also faced pressure from habitat disturbance and collisions with industrial-scale wind turbines. Researchers emphasized that insect-eating bats perform an important ecological role in agricultural areas, though estimates of their economic contribution varied widely and depended on methodology.

The legislation directed the Interior Department to allocate money from the endangered-species recovery fund to research and manage the outbreak. Conservation advocates welcomed the appropriation while arguing that a larger and sustained response would be required.

Researchers described the scale and geographic reach of bat mortality as exceptional among documented mammal population declines.

Summary of the scientific concern reported at the time

Scientists also warned that losses linked to disease could combine with mortality from wind-energy development and other forms of human disturbance. Agricultural regions in the Midwest and Great Plains were of particular concern because of their reliance on insect control and expanding energy infrastructure.

Colorado was home to 18 documented bat species, with additional species present in nearby portions of Utah and Oklahoma. At the time of the report, white-nose syndrome was not known to have reached Colorado.

Public-land agencies responded by changing cave access. The National Park Service closed caves in the Pocono Mountains, while federal and state authorities partially closed certain caves and abandoned mines in New Mexico. Other sites, including Carlsbad Caverns and Mammoth Cave national parks, introduced visitor-screening and decontamination procedures intended to reduce the risk of people transporting fungal material.

Colorado wildlife officials asked residents to report sightings of bats active during winter or bats found dead. The state had also worked with a land trust to establish a 350-acre conservation easement around a former iron-ore mine used by a large colony of Mexican free-tailed bats.

For contemporary information, readers should consult current wildlife-agency guidance before entering caves, handling equipment used underground or reporting a bat that appears ill.