voluntary moratorium in eastern caves requested

[denaliguide]

Officials Ask People to Stay Out of Caves Where as Many as 500,000 Bats Have Died

Thursday, March 26, 2009


ALBANY, New York

[DOSS]

Looks like it is going to become non voluntary

(AP) The U.S. Forest Service is preparing to close thousands of caves and former mines in national forests in 33 states in an effort to control a fungus that has already killed an estimated 500,000 bats.

Forest Service biologist Becky Ewing said an emergency order was issued last week for caves in 20 states from Minnesota to Maine. A second order covering the Forest Service's 13-state Southern region should be issued later this month.

The sites will be closed for up to a year, she said.

The orders follow a March request by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for people to voluntarily stay out of caves in 17 states.

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