The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is looking for volunteers to help monitor bat populations across several Iowa counties this summer, including Mahaska County, which is being surveyed for the second consecutive year after also appearing on the list in 2025.
Other counties included in this year’s survey are Benton and Linn, Boone, Dubuque, Sac and Calhoun, and Sioux.
The surveys are part of the Volunteer Wildlife Monitoring Program’s ongoing effort to track bat population trends across the state, a program that began in partnership with Iowa State University in 2015. The initiative was launched in direct response to declining bat populations caused by White Nose Syndrome — a disease that causes high levels of bat mortality, primarily during hibernation — as well as other challenges facing bat species across eastern and Midwestern North America.
Volunteers will use car-mounted acoustic recording equipment to capture bat echolocation calls along pre-determined routes of approximately 30 miles on country roads. The microphone is attached to the roof of the vehicle and driven slowly at around 20 miles per hour. Recordings are then analyzed in a lab to identify bat species and estimate population numbers, with data collected year over year to monitor population trends in each area.
To volunteer, participants need a personal vehicle and a partner to run the survey with them. Volunteers must be available for at least two nights during a specified two-week window in July. Each survey begins 45 minutes after sunset and takes roughly 60 to 90 minutes, not including travel time to the route location.
Those interested in volunteering can find more information and register at bit.ly/49xFtMS.
