By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Forget the belfry, four new “houses” have been erected in Bowling Green’s city parks to give bats a place to roost.
The much maligned winged mammals actually provide some great services, according to Boy Scout Stephen Glomski, a sophomore at Bowling Green High School, who took on the building of four bat houses for his Eagle Scout project.
“I’ve liked them for a long time,” Stephen said about the nocturnal creatures. “I like seeing them when we’re around a campfire.”
Bats not only devour a lot of annoying bugs, but they also pollinate fruit trees, Stephen said.
And the bat population is struggling right now, partially due to an ailment called “white nose fungus.”
So when Stephen approached the Bowling Green Parks and Recreation Department about a project for his Eagle Scout ranking, it was suggested that he construct four bat houses – two in Wintergarden Park, one in Simpson Garden Park, and one near the community center.
Stephen and his dad consulted the Pennsylvania Game Commission to get instructions on how to construct the houses – which are quite sizable. Each bat house weighs about 60 pounds, sits 10 feet off the ground, and has many baffles inside the 3 by 2 feet wooden boxes.
The layers of wood inside the houses were roughed up to give the bats a texture that their claws can grasp. Piece of screen sit across the bottoms to give them landing pads to grab.
Stephen first approached Cinda Stutzman, natural resources specialist with Bowling Green Parks and Recreation Department, about his project. He had met Stutzman years before when he attended several nature programs at Wintergarden Park.
“I remember him as a young boy,” Stutzman said, recalling Stephen’s quiet and inquisitive nature.
Stephen has volunteered before – pulling invasive garlic mustard plants and helping pick up trash in the city parks.
“I just was tickled when he came to us and wanted to do a project with us,” she said. “It was cool to see him come back to where he started his environmental education.”
Stutzman decided bat houses would be a perfect project.
“We keep hearing from the scientists that the bat population is struggling,” she said. “Everything we can do to help the bat population is something we need to work for.”
Each of the four boxes will give up to 50 bats a place to roost.
“We’re giving them a safe place in our parks,” Stutzman said.
“They need more around the parks,” Stephen said.
As part of the Eagle Scout process, Stephen had to delegate tasks to his fellow Boy Scouts in Troop 422 to get the project done. Once constructed, the boxes were painted black, to soak in heat from the run, then erected on poles in the parks – with Stephen’s initials in the concrete bases.
His parent’s, Dan and Julie Glomski, are “very proud,” his dad said.
And with any luck, the bat houses in the parks will keep some bats out of the homes of city residents, Stutzman said.
