Katrina Schultes
Katrina has served as a Biologist with the U.S. Forest Service at the Wayne National Forest in Ohio since 2002. She holds a bachelor's degree in Zoology from Ball State University and a master's degree in Wildlife Management from Eastern Kentucky University. Her master's thesis focused on roost tree selection by Indiana bats and northern (long-eared) bats on the Wayne National Forest. She has facilitated a multi-regional Bat Focal Group within the Forest Service since 2009 and has recently worked to form an Ohio Bat Working Group. She has spent the last 14 years expanding her knowledge and educating others about bats.
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