Bree McMurray
I am an endangered species specialist for the Missouri Department of Transportation. As part of my duties, I assess impacts from transportation projects to federally listed bats in Missouri (Indiana and gray bats), their preferred and potential roost sites, and also occasionally address impacts to common species on our bridge projects. I have been a member of the newly formed Midwest Bat Working Group since 2009, a member of the Southeastern Bat Diversity Network since 1996 (serving as Board Member, committee member for the Bat Blitz Committee, and a committee chair for the past several years), a founding member and secretary of the Rafinesque Big-eared Bat Working Group, and assisted in organizing the 2009 SBDN Bat Blitz in southeastern Missouri. I have attended several SBDN Bat Blitz events and SBDN and NASBR conferences. Within my state, I have participated in several volunteer bat surveys on the Mark Twain National Forest and am a member of the Missouri Bat Working Group. My interests are in inventorying and monitoring populations of bats, common and rare, and increasing the knowledge of population and abundance trends in the state of Missouri. In my capacity as an endangered species specialist for MoDOT, I strive to raise awareness of bat and habitat protection and conservation through vigilance and education about the importance of bats in the ecosystem and on the landscape.
White-Nose Syndrome
A serious disease has been killing off bats in the United States and Canada. It was initially discovered in New York, but has now spread to many of the surrounding states and as far west as Oklahoma.
These bats have a white fungus growing on them during hibernation. This fungus is called Geomyces destructans. It is now estimated that over a million bats have died as a result of White-Nose Syndrome
Photo courtesy Al Hicks, New York Department of Environmental Conservation