Bat Resource for Okanagan Accommodation
Do You Have Bats At Your Accommodation?
The Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA) and the BC Community Bat Program (BCCBP) are partnering to assist and educate accommodators throughout the region on the importance of protecting the bat populations in the Okanagan. Unfortunately, bats carry a bad reputation due to misinformation and fear. When tourists come across them during their holiday stays, some may react negatively, while others might be well-informed and thrilled to see a bat.
Bats are an important part of the Okanagan ecosystem and are neither rodents nor considered pests under BC law. They are classified as wildlife under the BC Wildlife Act and are protected from harassment and killing. Bats live in natural and urban areas near lakes, ponds, and wetlands and are amongst the most common wildlife.
Photo by Merlin Tuttle©
Did you know bats often take a break at night after hunting for insects? They may fly into covered patios, carports, or breezeways to rest. If you find a bit of bat poop on the ground in the morning, you’ll know some bat friends were visiting. It does not mean they are getting into the building, just resting on the outside.
Get Support for Accommodators
If you have bats at your accommodation or have had encounters with bats, take the bat survey, so the BC CBP can engage with you and your team to help you devise a plan on how to manage the bats.
Learning Resources
Bats hunt for insects after sunset. If deck lights are on, they will attract insects. It’s important to use window screens and keep doors closed so that bats don’t accidentally fly into a room chasing a mosquito. For best practices on how to manage bats at your property, visit the following resources:
Appreciating Bats in the Okanagan
Bat in Doorway
The Okanagan has the highest diversity of bats in BC, with at least 14 species calling the valley home. These nocturnal flying mammals are protected under the BC Wildlife Act. Bats are important wildlife as they are major predators of insects, including mosquitoes and agricultural and forestry pests.
Most BC bats give birth to just one pup per year, and only about half of those young make it through their first winter. Their slow reproductive rate means they are particularly vulnerable to habitat loss and other sources of mortality.
In the Okanagan, bat habitat includes the river and lake shorelines. As we develop these natural areas, bats are forced to move away, or some have adapted and taken up residence in buildings. Some resorts have these furry visitors living around their buildings. Figuring out how to manage bats in a responsible and bat-friendly way is now possible due to the assistance of the BC Community Bat Program.
The Little Brown Myotis is one species that relies extensively on human-made structures as sites for roosting and raising offspring. This little bat is Endangered in Canada due to White-Nose Syndrome, a disease which has decimated bat populations in Eastern Canada and the USA.
Learn more about bats and bat activities in the Okanagan by visiting ThompsonOkanagan.com.
Become Bat Friendly
Roost of Pallid Bats
You can do many things to become a Bat-friendly Resort, whether you have bats or not. For example, building a bat friendly garden.
Download the BC Bat-friendly Communities Guide which contains information and suggestions on how to help bats. A Bat Resource Page and Hotel Tent Card have been created to help educate your visitors during their stay.
Turning Bats into a Tourism Attraction
The Peachland Visitor Centre is a wonderful example of the amazing tourism opportunity that bats can provide. A maternity colony of almost 2,000 female bats and their pups roost in the attic of the visitor centre every summer. Peachland residents have seized the opportunity to make this a tourist attraction offering bat tours, presentations, and opportunities to count bats as they come out to hunt insects in the evening.
If you have a bat colony on your property, there are many things you can do to manage your buildings, help bats, and enhance your guest’s experience. One of the best things resorts can do is to inform tourists about local wildlife including bats and how they influence our lives.
By educating your guests about the importance of bats in the Okanagan Ecosystem and around the world, you are putting into action the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 15, Life Above Land.
The following are some ideas on how you can become a bat friendly accommodation and enrich your guest’s experience:
Download and print the Bat Educational Page and Tent Cards to display in your guest rooms
Provide information about where and how to watch bats. This can be either at your location or by visiting somewhere like the Peachland Visitor Centre
Participate in Annual Bat Counts (June - August). This involves sitting outside a bat roost and counting bats as they come out for the evening to hunt insects. Learn more at Counting bats - BC BATS
Report bats in winter. This involves helping researchers monitor for White-Nose Syndrome by reporting winter bat activity or dead bats. Learn more at WNS surveillance - BC BATS
Recommend your visitors visit an Interpretive Centre to learn more about bats, such as Kelowna Environmental Education Centre for the Okanagan, Peachland Visitor Centre maternity colony, Vernon Allan Brooks Nature Centre, and Osoyoos Desert Centre
Offer a bat interpretive talk to your guests contact BC Community Bat Program (Okanagan@BCBats.ca) for more information
Install interpretive signs about bats
Organize batty events during International Bat Appreciation Day (April 17) or Bat Week (October 24 - 31)
The BC Community Bat Program is a network of community bat projects across BC, carried out in partnership with the Ministry of Environment. In the Okanagan region, they work with landowners to protect their bat roost sites and use bat-friendly exclusion methods, document the number of known roost sites in human-made structures, promote citizen science such as bat counts to monitor bat populations and White-nose Syndrome surveillance at active bat roosts, train Bat Ambassadors, and work with many partners towards implementation of Bat-friendly Communities.