Archived Outdoors
Smokies area closed to protect bats
The Whiteoak Sink area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is closed through March 31 to protect the bats living there from white-nose syndrome.
Park officials last year instituted a similar closure of the area, between Cades Cove and Townsend. The disease has decimated bat populations across the Eastern seaboard over the past decade and was discovered in the park in 2010. Since then, some cave-dwelling bat populations have declined by an estimated 80 percent. Humans can spread the fungus that causes the disease by inadvertently carrying spores on their shoes, clothes and caving equipment.
Throughout the winter, park biologists will collect data at the site to inform a long-term protection plan for the bats.
