The 5th Annual Southeastern Bat Diversity Network Bat Blitz will be held August 6-10, 2006, in the mountains of northwestern South Carolina and northeastern Georgia. The event provides an opportunity for researchers, management biologists, and students from Federal and state agencies, universities, and industry to exchange information and develop strategies for studying bat communities. Media are invited to come on Tuesday, August 8, to meet with team leaders, eat dinner, and then go out with a team to catch bats.

The bat blitz involves intense surveys--3 nights of mist netting on 30-40 different sites, acoustic sampling, and other techniques--to look at the species composition and prevalence of bats on parts of the Sumter and Chattahoochee National Forests and adjoining state lands. "The blitz is designed as a teaching and training experience as well as an opportunity to survey a specific area intensively," says Susan Leob, USDA Forest Service researcher who has helped organize the event.

The base camp for the bat blitz is Camp Chatuga near Mountain Rest, SC. (www.campchatuga.com). On the August 8 media day, techniques for catching and recording information about bats will be demonstrated, as well as research techniques such as sampling for genetic and stable isotope studies. Researchers will also be available to discuss bat research and what is currently known about bat populations in the Southeast.

The event is hosted jointly by the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station, the Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests, the Chattahoochee National Forest, and the South Carolina and Georgia Departments of Natural Resources.

To make arrangements to cover the event, please contact one of the following:

Susan Loeb at 864-656-4865 or sloeb@fs.fed.us Zo Hoyle at 828-257-4388 or zhoyle@fs.fed.us Perdita Spriggs at 828-259-0512 or pspriggs@fs.fed.us