The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation — one of the state’s longest-running and most respected land stewardship organizations — accepted an invitation to help protect the former Lime Kiln Mine in Hannibal, Mo., because it is home to as much as one-third of the remaining endangered Indiana bats in the world. The Iowa foundation, which generally focuses on Iowa, will hold a permanent conservation easement on the 185-acre Sodalis Preserve because, well, someone asked, and because the 168,000 bats there are likely to spend some time in Des Moines, Waterloo and Dubuque when they aren’t busy hibernating in Missouri. Indiana bats are federally protected, and the mere prospect of them being around has changed plans for some Iowa road projects. Hannibal, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Conservation Fund also are involved in the project, which creates the city’s second-largest park. Gates will be built across 34 cave entrances to protect the bats. The park was dedicated Oct. 21.

Read a blog post on the project here: http://bit.ly/2fxzlva