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Boulder County staff outline response to white‑nose syndrome; vaccine trials and habitat measures highlighted
Summary
Wildlife staff described the county's monitoring and response plan for white‑nose syndrome, including passive monitoring, decontamination protocols, targeted habitat actions and participation interest in regional vaccination trials.
Susan Spalding, environmental senior specialist and wildlife biologist with Boulder County Parks and Open Space, updated POSEAC on white‑nose syndrome (WNS) and county response steps on Jan. 23.
Spalding summarized the disease, Pseudogymnoascus destructans ("PD"), and its impacts on hibernating bat species: "Infective bats experience the fungus growing into their cellular structure ... it wakes the bats up and if they're in hibernation when they wake up, they're depleting their critical fat reserves." She described national and regional declines and noted that WNS was confirmed in Colorado in 2024 via submissions to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) lab.
County actions and monitoring described by Spalding: - Surveillance and reporting: staff will coordinate with CPW and use acoustic monitors and egress/thermal surveys at known maternity colonies and historic structures. - Decontamination: staff are developing a decontamination protocol for people entering structures (70% isopropyl alcohol solution was discussed for gear and footwear). - Vaccination trials: Spalding described CPW’s 2024 larimer‑county vaccine trial (200 bats captured; 100 received vaccine or placebo; all were banded and PIT‑tagged) and said Boulder County sites might be candidates for future trials because they are accessible and host large colonies. - Habitat measures: the county installed a linear "bat trough" at a known palisade maternity site to extend available water later into summer and installed about 30 fabricated metal stock‑tank escape ramps and several rock ramps to reduce non‑disease mortalities. - Historic structures and public access: the county will consider restricting or timing public access to structures that host maternity colonies, require decontamination of visitors when access occurs, and will collect guano samples where feasible for PD testing.
Spalding said some bat species appear to resist PD colonization while others suffer high mortality, and that recovery is slow because most bats produce a single pup per year. She encouraged public reporting of dead bats to CPW and noted the county is coordinating with neighboring jurisdictions on response planning.
POSEAC members asked about monitoring sensitivity and the ability to detect population changes with acoustic methods; Spalding said existing baseline acoustic data and repeat monitoring should detect declines and provide relative activity trends. Committee members also discussed whether county sites could host further vaccine trials and emphasized the need to limit disturbance to maternity colonies while monitoring continues.
