Feature photo is the Brown Myotis Bat – Myotis lucifugus
Caron Tayloe is a lifelong Washoe County resident who has been a wildlife watcher since childhood. Here she shares the many reasons bats need and deserve our attention and protection.
Being absolutely in love with Nevada Wildlife has caused this wildlife watcher to monitor trends and events related to wildlife. As wildlife prepare for winter, whether it is hibernation, brumation, migration, or staying in a self-prepared place, it is important to remember that wildlife, as great adapters to the environment, are neighbors who need space and privacy during the autumn and winter months. One example are the ever resilient (and ever maligned) bats who are preparing for hibernation at this time. Bats hibernate in crevices and caves (man-made and natural), in store bought bat houses, just to name a few places.
We also know bats as nature’s insect control since each night the average bat can eat the equivalent of its body weight in insects (Bat Conservation International, Bat Week, website 2021). Just think about how much pesticide is NOT needed, thanks to bats!
Some of the Nevada bat species are doing well and some are in trouble due to climate change and habitat destruction. Nevada has a bat conservation program that can be observed on the Nevada Department of Wildlife website.
Spotted Bat- Euderma maculatum
Per the Nevada Department of Wildlife, Nevada has 23 species of bats. The NDOW brochure has many fun and amazing facts about bats. For example, did you know that bat guano bacteria is used as a detoxifier in lakes and streams, and is used as a fertilizer?
The conservation program is very outdated but as the Wildlife Action Plan is updated, perhaps the bat conservation plan will be updated also.
Challenges to bats are numerous and most people are aware of the fungus that has killed untold millions of bats in this country in the last 16 years For more information, visit an excellent resource describing how biologists (including NDOW) and others are fighting back the horrible disease that is destroying our precious little bats. You can also track the fungus as it moves closer to Nevada. Let’s keep fighting!
There are many old bat myths and, fortunately, most have been dispelled. However our present time, being what it is, has yielded a fresh litany of myths. It is appalling that bats have been blamed, once again, for viruses that harm people. A non professional review of the research has not proved anything to this wildlife watcher, so far. Ironically, during the same blame-game time, bats are being researched for their fantastic immune system. (The thoughts of my furry little neighbors in a lab is horrific and the ineffective use of wildlife in labs is another essay for another time).
So, today, let’s celebrate our flying, furry co-inhabitants who grace our skies at dusk and at night! This year Bat Conservation International has declared 10/24-10/31 as Bat Week!
It is a celebration of all of the wonderful bats who bring so much to the environment and to all living species.
Townsend’s Big-Eared Bat – Corynorhinus townsendii
University of Nevada, Reno Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center
Tina Nappe is a member of and has served on the boards of several local conservation organizations, as well as representing the State Board of Wildlife Commissioners as the conservationist from 1979-1994. Here she helps us find a valuable use for all those documents cluttering our shelves.
Stop! Before you answer Marie Kondo’s question. ”Does that photograph, letter, article, publication still give you joy?” Ask yourself. “Was I not part of a campaign to improve the lives of wildlife, pets, a place…Did this document, now cluttering my shelf, contribute to that campaign?” If it did, perhaps you want that paper and your organization’s documentation to become part of Nevada’s historical collection. If so, there are places where you can contribute those valuable records to be preserved and made available to the public.
Would a historian appreciate this?
Nevada’s wildlife history is a series of building blocks with campaigns and laws emerging over time. Nevada’s protection of each Wildlife Management Area, Wildlife Refuge or park has a history. Each Nevada species, animal, plant, insect may also have a history of recognition, legal status, followed by regulatory and habitat designation. At some point, something sparked and gained public interest and support. There were key individuals and probably organizations and agencies involved. Once the goal is achieved the public tends to forget how that law, species, or place was protected. And those who helped make that law happen, go on to other activities; eventually they want to clean out their closets…..or their heirs do, and the information disappears.
We have good records on some campaigns. For instance, creating Bowers Mansion as a county park has a fairly thorough background. Wild Horse Annie’s campaign to save wild horses is also well documented. Why? Because Wild Horse Annie, always the vigilant secretary, kept records and now the University of Denver houses her correspondence.
What happened to the documents you and your organization generated? When you look at your cluttered computer or shelf, is there information that a future historian or reader might appreciate?
As someone interested in the history of Nevada’s wildlife management, I both utilize and have urged contributions to Special Collections part of the University of Nevada -Reno’s Mathewson’s IGT Knowledge Center. Special Collections focuses primarily on the history and culture of northern Nevada, UNLV, I assume, has a similar repository. Nevada Historical Society also has excellent collections of. Nevada history. Other libraries and museums also may be interested in select topics.
I will describe a few recent wildlife collections contributed to Special Collections.
Fred Wright, former Chief of Administrative Services for NDOW, who died in 2018, spent the last 10-15 years of his life, pulling together the history of the Department of Wildlife. That history is brief because the agency was founded in 1949; but many of its early employees were still around. He urged them to share their memories of those early NDOW years and to donate any documents they held. Fred wrote a history of all the NDOW wildlife laws, listed all the Wildlife Commissioners, and as many of the employees as he remembered, including the years they were employed. Fred started this project when he discovered that NDOW had no room for its “history” and was tossing documents to make room for the present and future.
When he died in 2012 James D. Yoakum, hired as BLM’s first wildlife biologist, left behind all the BLM technical papers he had gathered or written himself. Aware that BLM, like many agencies, has a limited capacity for storage, he took all his office literature to his home when he retired. Remember those pre-internet days when you had to have the actual document in hand? Jim’s first tasks when he started work at BLM in 1958 was to incorporate wildlife values as an integral part of BLM. A photographer, writer, and speaker, Jim encouraged the publication of BLM’s first wildlife brochure, using color photographs. Jim oversaw the publication of each Nevada BLM district’s mammals, birds, fish and reptiles. His primary focus, however, was the pronghorn antelope on which he became a national authority. In addition to his papers, Special Collections has thousands of slides, which over time, will have to be reviewed, indexed or tossed.
More recently, Special Collections has become the recipient of Dawn Lappin’s many years of involvement with Wild Horse Organized Assistance (WHOA) and Catharine Barcombe’s files from her years at Nevada Wild Horse Commission. Both programs include development of information and approach to wild horse management during the early formative years of the Wild and Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971.
When Tom Trelease, NDOW Chief of Fisheries died in 2014, he left behind his years of documents including early years of the fisheries management, the initiation of planes to inventory wildlife, and working on restoration of Lahontan Cutthroat Trout populations in Pyramid Lake.
For many years the Toiyabe Chapter of the Sierra Club, founded in 1957, has donated all correspondence, newsletters, and any related documents. Lahontan Audubon Society, also founded in 1955 or 1957, is also considering using Special Collections as a depository.
In April Carson Lake and Pasture was transferred to NDOW. I was part of the Lahontan Wetlands Coalition, comprised of conservationists and sportsmen, who , over a three-year period from 1988 -1990, when PL 101-618 was passed, built the case for preserving wetlands in Lahontan Valley, along with a designated water allocation and access to federal appropriations. (Thank you, congressman Barbara Vucanovich and Senator Harry Reid). Many boxes of documents were transferred to Special Collections.
If you are interested in touring Special Collections or have documents you think that might be of interest to Special Collections, please contact Jacque Sunderland [email protected]
Opponents of the hunt question “the moral compass” of those in support of the hunt.
NDOW Director Tony Wasley defends himself and others who support the hunt by reverting to a “killing is conservation” stance. He applauds himself and his cronies for the money spent on weapons and assorted paraphernalia used to kill these animals, all in the name of “sport.” He ignores the cruelty inflicted on the bears themselves, as well as the NV Wildlife Values Report (2018), funded by his own agency, showing that only 13% of Nevadans support the bear hunt in its current form, using packs of GPS collared hounds to chase these innocent animals to their deaths.
Meanwhile, far from the self-congratulatory Zoom Wildlife Commission meetings of like -minded hunters, NV Bears are scrambling for their lives. Pre-season game cameras have been set by guides who profit from clients vying to win a belt buckle for the biggest trophy animal. From opening day Sept. 15 through December 1, packs of GPS collared hounds are set to chase bears who are trying to pack on pounds in preparation for hibernation. Mother Bears are known to herd their cubs up a tree to safety and continue running as a decoy. Families can be separated in these chases, leaving cubs motherless. Once the dogs’ signal shows they are no longer running, it is assumed they have “treed” the bear. Driving mechanized vehicles, the hunters descend on the bear and kill it using high powered weapons. The bear falls from the tree, often still alive, to the cheers and delight of the waiting hunters.
The traditional ethics of “fair chase” in this trophy hunt are hollow remnants of what has become a tech-driven war game played by those holding tightly to the delusion of a pioneer ethos long passed.
Groups such as Center for Biological Diversity, NV Wildlife Alliance, NoBearHuntNV, Wild Earth Guardians, Sierra Club-Toiyabe Chapter, the Humane Society of the United States, Animal Wellness Action and Bear Defenders submitted a letter to the NV Wildlife Commission requesting this year’s hunt be called off in view of the devastating wildfires. letter
“The Tamarack Fire burned into hunt units 192 and 291 and to within 2 miles of hunt unit 201, within 8 miles of hunt unit 203, and to within 10 miles of hunt unit 204. And as of September 4th, the Caldor Fire has burned to within 3 miles of hunt unit 192 and to within 13 miles of hunt unit 194. Additionally, the enormous Dixie Fire in California has burned to within 15 miles of hunt unit 196.” the letter reads.
“Wildlife which lived within areas now burned would have fled as the fire approached, and while some likely perished, some would be pushed to outside the boundaries of the fire, into foreign terrain and other animals’ territories. This forced migration of wildlife by wildfire will have broad effects on wildlife and trophic interactions in the areas receiving migrating wildlife. And with no refuge from the smoke and ash, these fires cause impacts to animal’s physiology.”
“Wildlife are sentient beings which experience fear, terror, pain, and grief. Surviving catastrophic wildfire, breathing heavy smoke for weeks on end, fleeing for one’s life and the lives of those they are responsible for – bears are suffering as much or more from the Tamarack and Caldor Fires as humans.”
What has been the response of the Wildlife Commission to this letter to date?
Essentially, crickets.
What response can one expect from a body majorly composed of individuals who so dissociate from the feelings of another animal as to kill it in the name of recreation.
From 2005 until December 2018, Dr. Karen Layne served as President of the Las Vegas Valley Humane Society. In addition to her role helping animals with LVVHS, Karen also served on the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners, a statewide office appointed by the Governor, from 2012 to 2015, and as chair of the Clark County Animal Advisory Committee from 2010 until 2014.
I attended my first Board of Wildlife Commissioners’ meeting in 2011, based on an article in the local paper. The agenda included a proposal to change the status of the mountain lion as well as add a bear hunt. As a public hearing, it was unimpressive with an unusual all white male board, given the diversity of Southern Nevada. The values of the board immediately were clearly in conflict with my values.
My life then was frenetic. While I had retired from public service in 2005, my full time job was serving as volunteer president of the Las Vegas Valley Humane Society (LVVHS), along with also serving as president of the Edna Rose Crane Educational Foundation and as chair of the Clark County Animal Advisory Committee. There was a small group of people in the community that had formed a coalition to attempt to reduce the ever present cat and dog overpopulation in Southern Nevada and I was a part of that coalition. The 2008 recession had left the LVVHS in terrible financial shape and economic recovery still looked far in the future. I personally was overloaded with animals which had been returned from people losing their homes; board members came and went.
You can imagine my surprise when I was asked in mid-2012 to serve on the Wildlife Commission as the public member from Clark County. My first response was ‘No.” Later in the year, worn down from all the other issues in my life and wanting to make a difference, I agreed to submit an application to the Governor’s Office. I was a Democrat with a big “D.” The Governor was Republican, but I was appointed.
Assurances were given the job wouldn’t take up that much time. Unfortunately, two pieces of legislation greatly impacted my time and were to shape my feelings of the Commission. The first legislation was SB213– passed in the 2013 Legislature. SB213 mandated the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners develop and implement regulations that consider the visitation of traps near populated or heavily used areas. The Trapping Regulation Committee took on this task; three other Commission members from the Sportsman and Conservation side along with me made up that committee. The uproar by trappers over my presence on the Committee created such a problem that a public member—a prolific bob cat trapper—was added to the committee “for fairness.” In retrospect, the addition of this trapper strengthened my thinking that it was a big mistake to join the Commission.
The committee conducted seven meetings which often started on Thursday or the committee might continue after the end of the Commission meetings on Saturday. Needless to say, the time and effort involved on the Committee and the Commission considerably expanded; I found myself away from home more often and for longer periods than originally anticipated. The research time was substantial. There was no time for anything else. The meetings would go on for hours listening to public testimony and debating the issues—the values of the trappers were alien to my values. My age and a bad back made things physically worse. Poor seating and accommodations didn’t help. At one point, I could barely stand at the end of the day. In the end, the trappers got what they wanted—minimal changes regardless of what the general public had to say. It was clear the Commission was all about the trappers and their needs, even though hunters indicated they were not thrilled with current trap visitation times. I might as well have not have been there. I was only there as a “token,” representing the general public so the Commission could say “it listened.” What a waste!
The final straw was AB78, the second piece of legislation, as well as the Policy 23 revisions which were all a part of the lethal control of predators. The Commission always talked about governing by science, but the best example of the way the Commission governed was in a Wildlife Damage Management Committee meeting. At this meeting, as with all these meetings, the Committee was discussing the Predator Control Plan for the year which included both lethal and non-lethal means of controlling predators.
The question as it seemed to me: were we doing some sort of research on a lethal tool, i.e. trapping, or were we going to conduct preliminary evaluation to understand predator populations before we implement lethal removal. The common denominator amongst the vast majority of the projects that I went over, indicated that we had a very good handle on the prey populations, but we had little to no understanding of the predator populations. So, I can’t go back and make any inference on what did or did not happen to those predator populations. (Thursday, March 19, 2015 Meeting of the Wildlife Damage Management Committee)
In other words, the programs will tell you how many lions, coyotes, bears, etc. were killed, but not what that meant to the population of those predators. If a program wanted to insert some desert big horns into an area with lions, the program would kill all the lions in the area so they wouldn’t eat the desert big horns. Forget the issue of habitat or habitat loss which is the biggest issue in wildlife management.
The Predator Plan was all about killing the predators that hunt game animals. The $3 fee for each tag for a game animal was used to fund the program. During this time there was much discussion about this fee and making sure that the greatest amount of money went for lethal predator control. The minutes of these meetings are available on the NDOW site. It is worthwhile reading these minutes because they best provide documentation as to the nightmare that the Commission is inflicting on predator animals in Nevada without considering what the end result of these lethal programs are to these populations. Certain commissioners who came on the committee became even more rabid about the percentage of fees and the amount of money going to these programs—demanding all of the money taken in be allocated and allocated to lethal programs. These demands culminated in AB78, which was passed in the 2015 legislative session where there was a Republican majority (although this bill only passed by one vote in the Senate). It required that 80 percent of the $3 tag monies be spent for lethal predator control even if these kill-the-predator programs had shown that killing predators did little if anything to increase herds of game animals, especially deer. My last meeting on this Committee was on September 24, 2015 in which the 80 percent requirement was discussed. It was time for me to leave.
I served with some good people on the Commission, but we haven’t stayed in touch. I learned more about the state and got to visit some beautiful parts of it. I met a lot of people who shared my values and fought against some of these programs, and are still fighting against these programs. We have stayed in touch. I attended a couple of meetings after I left, but haven’t been back for a long time although I watched parts of meetings online. The pandemic has been good for the Commission as it has been able to hide more from the public and involve those who don’t agree with them less. Yet, the wildfires, the unwillingness of the Commission to deal with Wildlife Killing Contests, or the use of hounds for bear hunts, the unwillingness to deal with loss of habitat issues, both at the local and Commission level, will eventually catch up with the State. It may require getting rid of the Commission or at least the $3 tag fee, or dramatically changing the composition of the Commission—adding a couple of people will not resolve the problems. There are bigger problems for wildlife out there that the Commission appears blind to—loss of habitat from wildfires, the increasing drought and water loss for wildlife, the desire to continue to add more big horn sheep without the understanding that poor habitat and overcrowding will cause bigger issues than predators, the use of technology in weaponry and locating animals, and possible changes in funding formulas.
As one gets older, there is a recognition that there is only so much time left; every minute is precious. Many of those minutes and hours were wasted on the Commission when I could have made more of a difference on the issue of pet overpopulation if I had devoted that time to that issue. I try not to waste any more time dealing with the Commission, although I will write that email or letter on the same issues that people of similar values have been fighting for so long. As they say, “Hope springs eternal.”
We found a gopher snake, motionless in the street by our driveway. My husband Martin carried him reverently to the hill, far from concrete and cars.
The next evening, we walked with the dog to the snake’s resting place and found no snake. Our neighbors joined us with their dog and told us of their fear of snakes which was so extreme that they had taken a different path to avoid the one by their back gate.
Martin reported carrying the probably dead snake from our house to the desert – an act of kindness they found difficult to fathom because of their fear. Chris told Christina and the children it was the ghost snake which had made them afraid to go back through the side gate. Martin laughed that he moved such a snake from the welcome mat of his workshop earlier that day. I had seen it slither away from where I’d started to water its periwinkle cave, not realizing the disruption I’d caused.
Questions arise in my mind. “Do ghost snakes get blown about in the wind?” Answers too.
If they existed, ghost snakes could fly, but not of their own volition. For that, they must become birds – like the birds that Chris finds who have flown into their window – one a week, he claims, and wind up in the beaks of the waiting hawk who sits on the hot tub anticipating Chris hearing the bang of bird head on glass and waits for him to toss the feathers and bones without the inner bird up into the air for him.
Do the flying ghost snakes collide in the wind with the spirits of hawk-devoured birds? Dead birds navigate, no longer bothered by barriers like windows.
Martin says carrying the snake was a mystical experience for him.
The next evening, Diego Dog and I venture out alone and are particularly watchful of every step. We find no one – no snakes, lizards, hawks. They had all gone to bed, out of sight of the trail although traces remained of their paths in the sand.
Our snake friend was curled like a cat on the warm stones in front of our door. His patterns of black and beige to brown could be woven on the bead loom, his little head, resting on his shoulders, his tail curled around so the main part of his body rested on it, was covered in tiny ants. I wanted to brush them off but Martin said they would be nice snacks for him. Oh little snake, how do you provoke such nurturing feelings in me when our neighbors run from you or try to kill you? I won’t put my face to yours the way I do with the bird but I recognize a common ancestry and I bow to you little snake. Namaste, dear life form, crawling from stars and dirt and particles of patterns so mysterious I can’t place them. You redefine my sense of beauty – like Coltrane at the end of a long improvisation when he escapes all composition rules into the chaos of before worlds and comes back into the weaving with beads in even patterns of brown, beige and black, blending into the uneven rocks and the white concrete of the driveway.
The snake died. The stick his body curled around wasn’t a stick. It was his own guts that the ants were crawling. He managed to slither in the dark to the sun where I found him in the early morning, head turned up like Charlie Cat does when he’s fast asleep. He looked so peaceful I thought he was simply taking in the rays. We wouldn’t have let him suffer his night of dying had we known.
Leonard died, no connection and every connection to the snake. I had written to our son Alonzo about our gopher snake, waiting for him on the doorstep to thank him for saving his bull snake cousin at Leonard’s home. Alonzo quipped back that he didn’t need to wait and it turned out he couldn’t.
Ghost snakes floating in the music of mind in cottonwood trees are always singing – or are those birds? A thousand unknown birds can’t replace the one that is known.
Photo courtesy of The Bushcamp Company. Mfuwe Lodge – famous for wild elephants walking through reception each year to reach ripened mangoes behind the lodge.
Pangolin – Jane Goodall Foundation
Cathy Smith and Stacy James prevailed in their first Nevada legislative effort Jan. 11, 2018 when SB 194, the Endangered Wildlife Trade law, was signed by Governor Sandoval. The law prohibits the purchase, sale or possession with intent to sell any item in this State that a person knows or should know contains or is, wholly or partially, made of an animal part or byproduct derived from any species of elephant, rhinoceros, whale, tiger, lion, leopard, cheetah, jaguar, pangolin, sea turtle, shark, ray, mammoth, narwhal, walrus or hippopotamus. Oregon, Washington and California all have similar laws. In addition to this achievement, Cathy is a practising physician, world traveler, photographer, and former member of the Washoe County Advisory Board to Manage Wildlife. (CAB)
Cathy was a minority voice on the Washoe County CAB steadfastly advocating for wildlife protection, and we hope soon to have her reflections on that experience.
Stacy James, who worked alongside Cathy for the passage of SB194, is a founder of Dazzle Africa who has led safaris in Zambia for many years. Her organization contributes to the welfare of African wildlife and communities.
Cecil the lion – Documentary Tube
Cathy Smith on her legislative experience:
Although I am far from expert on anything legislative, I will briefly write on our success with SB 194, the wildlife trafficking bill. The first, and one of the most challenging steps, is to find a bill sponsor. Stacy James was the successful one in that regard. If you can find a sponsor that is true advocate for your bill, you are ahead of the game. The next step is to find co-sponsors from both parties by having meetings with anyone possible. Our bill sponsor found most of the co-sponsors for us. Next, we created 1-2 page descriptions of the bill and began “stalking” legislators. We spoke with members of both parties, even the ones we knew would not support us. We took the information from those meetings to mold the bill into something more palatable for everyone. For example, because some people collected shark teeth, we changed the language of the bill to shark fin. We created an exclusion for knives and guns containing ivory for the state bill. By making these small changes, I think we were better able to demonstrate our willingness to listen to all opinions. Preventing misinformation is key as well. We made several one page infographics counteracting the inaccurate information that was placed by the opposition. We were also really lucky to have supporters willing to testify and meet with legislators along with us. It was a long painful road, but it was definitely worth it in the end.
