Bats, mines, and citizen science in the Rockies: Volunteers make a difference in Colorado

Abstract

Biologists at the Colorado Division of Wildlife faced a big problem back in 1990. They wanted to protect important bat roosts in the state’s abandoned mines, but first they had to find the bats. Colorado’s rich mining history had left more than 23,000 old mines scattered across the landscape, few of which had ever been surveyed for bat roosts. The magnitude of the task was overwhelming. So the agency put out a call for volunteers, “citizen scientists” willing to donate their time for bat conservation. Two decades later, the results have surpassed their wildest expectations.