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Luxury condos built for bats Mail Tribune / Jim Craven It may not look like much, but to a bat, it's a luxury condominium. Helping erect the experimental bat habitat are employees of the Bureau of Land Management and members of Bat Conservation International. By PAUL FATTIG MERLIN - Marylou Schnoes figures Rube Goldberg would have approved. After all, it defied description, this complex contraption of chicken wire, sheet metal, plaster, two 6-by-2s and plywood all affixed by u-bolts atop two tall metal poles. "It's really ugly when you get it up, but it works," said Schnoes, a wildlife biologist with the Bureau of Land Management's Medford District. Goldberg, always aiming for function in his fantastical forms, no doubt would have been pleased the structure has a use, even if it's to be a condominium for bats, she said. Erected at the BLM's Sprague Seed Orchard in Merlin on Friday, the bat condo was the sixth of 15 the agency and Bat Conservation International are installing in Southwestern Oregon. It's part of an experiment to find out if bats will roost in an artificial structure in a forest environment and which of three roost designs they prefer. The roost on the left resembles a long, square rocket. The center roost is the "Oregon wedge" design created by retired Southern Oregon University professor Steve Cross. And there is the traditional bat nursery box developed by BCI. "By using the same superstructure, we have exactly the same microclimate and opportunities for bats in each roost," Schnoes explained. The bat boxes and the superstructure are painted a grayish brown recommended by BCI. Nearly 1,000 bats could squeeze themselves into the bat condo, estimated Dan Taylor, a wildlife biologist and current director of BCI's Bats in Forest project. "We might not get occupation this year, but they'll be checking it out," he said of the 15 bat species that flit about Oregon. The top of the complex roost is about 18 feet off the ground. "We want to give the bats a sense of security from predation," Taylor said. "They are relatively defenseless. They are the bottom of the food chain." Except for the tiny insects which they gobble up each evening and night, he added. One study showed that a colony of 150 big brown bats ate 32,000 cucumber beetles in a summer, preventing the birth of 32 million of their corn earworm larvae which destroy corn, Taylor said. "Bats provide pest control," he said, adding they also pollinate plants. Retired Medford Fire Department firefighter Gene Daly volunteered to help erect the bat condo. "I don't think bats get the credit they deserve," Daly said. "They do a lot for humanity that most of us don't recognize. Without bats, we'd be in serious hot water." "Bats have gotten a bad rap for the most part,' added Ken Fukuda, a wildlife biologist with the BLM's Medford District who is also working on the project. "People don't really understand them." Understanding bats as well as their preferred housing is what the experiment is all about, Schnoes said. "I'm kind of scrounging for help and material," she said. "The sheet metal we're using is all recycled tree skirts. I salvaged everything I could." The metal, previously used as guards on conifers to keep squirrels from selected cones, is doing guard duty again. "When you have a good place for bats to roost, the owls will try to take advantage of it and start eating bats," she said. "The sheet metal will protect them." The plywood used to build each roost was donated by the Boise Cascade Corp. "We've built these roosts to last," Schnoes said. "When I'm gone, they will still be doing their job." In addition to the BLM, BCI, Boise Cascade and volunteers, others helping in the project include the Forest Service, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Northwest Youth Corps. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.