Cave Access Management(grating)

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Fringed myotis (Myotis thysanodes)
Family:Vespertilionidae

This species was absent from cave surveys in CO (Siemers 2002), but are known to use mines in CO (Navo & Krabacher), which often share similar characteristics to caves and suggest that they occasionally use these structures despite not being identified by surveys.  Additional work suggests that this species probably uses mines, tree snags and rock crevices more extensively within or adjacent to CO when available (Chung-MacCoubrey 2005, 2008; O'Shea et al. submitted; Snider et al. in prep; pers comm Mark Hayes) thus reducing its risk from cave disturbances.  However, well intentioned but improperly designed gating could have serious impacts on colonies using caves.