Gateway to The Hibernia Mine Bat Cave Traditional Cache

The Hibernia Mine Bat Cave cache is located in the Wildcat Ridge Parking area, as a gateway to the Hibernia Bat cave. After you find the cache proceed up the trail to visit the bat cave. Log only, please bring a pen.

A fungus has killed off about 90 percent of NJ state's bat population, according to scientists in 2010, who conducted an earlier count of hibernating bats. The devastation was shocking in the largest hibernation spot for bats in New Jersey — Morris County's Hibernia Mine

As many as 30,000 bats normally spend the winter, but a 2010 count found only about 1,700 alive — and many of those showed signs of infection, said a principal zoologist with the state's Endangered and Non-game Species Program."The results we had from Hibernia Mine were certainly not good news,"

The fungus, called white-nose syndrome for the whitish powder that appears on the nose, ears and wing membrane of infected bats, was first discovered on bats in New York in 2006. It has since been linked to the deaths of more than a million bats in 11 states, from New Hampshire to Virginia, and has also spread to Ontario, Canada. The virus appears to be following the path of the Appalachian Mountains.

"This is unprecedented and scary," said a bat researcher at a local University. "This wave has killed more mammals in the United States than anything in recent memory. It is entirely possible it could sweep all the way across the country to California, killing millions more bats."

Experts warn that the widespread loss of bats has potential ramifications for humans, since bats consume huge quantities of bugs, including insects that damage crops or carry West Nile and other potentially fatal diseases.

The bat deaths come at a particularly bad time in New Jersey, where mosquito control experts worry that the recent rains and floods have created ample breeding grounds for mosquitoes that could result in an unusually large mosquito population. A single bat can consume more than 3,000 mosquitoes on a single summer night.

Officials say all six species of bats that hibernate in New Jersey — big brown, little brown, Indiana, northern long-eared, small-footed and tri-colored or eastern pipistrelle — have been affected by the fungus. "If this keeps going, our bat populations will disappear," Once the population drops so dramatically, the genetic variability of the species goes down, and they are more susceptible to a variety of illnesses."

Scientists are under pressure to quickly find a way to save the remaining bats and stop the spreading to other states. "There's not a lot of evidence of any silver bullet that could work," said the national white-nose syndrome coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "Part of the problem is we still don't know how the fungal infection leads to death."

The running hypothesis among scientists is that the fungus irritates hibernating bats in some way, making them act erratically. They will emerge from their winter sleep, move about their caves and sometimes even fly outside as if in search for food — but all the activity causes them to burn through their fat reserves so they are unable to survive the winter.

Biologists in affected states are discussing ways to help the decimated bat population recover. They are testing various fungicides, hoping to find one that might help bats recover without harming them. New Jersey scientists, meanwhile, are considering capturing several dozen infected bats, nursing them back to health, then reintroducing them to a contaminated hibernation spot to see if they have developed immunity to the mysterious disease. The first signs of white-nose syndrome among bats in New Jersey in the winter of 2008-09. The 2010 count confirmed fears that it would decimate the population.