Bat Inventory at New River Gorge National Park and Preserve 2022 - Open Format Dataset

In 2022, an estimated 1.6 million people visited New River Gorge (NPS 2023b). To date, there are over 1,600 established rock climbs documented in the New River Gorge area (Mountain Project 2022, Williams 2019). As visitation has increased, NERI has become interested in documenting the presence of bat species and their habitat on and near the cliff face, rim, and base areas to support a park management plan. A total of 51 routes were selected to survey three times throughout the summer of 2022. Cliff line surveys included personnel on-rope rappelling down each selected cliff face to look for bats or bat sign and to collect data on the physical attributes and record habitat information. In addition, a simultaneous acoustic survey for bats was conducted at the base of each survey route. Although no bats or bat sign were documented, analysis of the acoustic data in concert with the environmental factors revealed that bats were detected at more highly climbed walls versus unclimbed walls, at least northern long-eared bats (Myotis septentrionalis) were more likely to be detected near less vegetated walls, and activity of eastern small-footed bats (Myotis leibii) was higher as the summer progressed. Bats that roost on rock walls use cracks and crevices, which are also an important feature for climbers. Opportunistic conversations with climbers revealed that bats are observed on the cliffs. Colorado State University has a Climbers for Bat Conservation group (CSU 2023) that could be a resource for engaging climbers in a citizen science campaign.