Extraordinary Women Leaders in Speleology (EWLS)

Shelly Colatskie, cave ecologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation has been surveying bats in in Sequiota Cave and the results are looking good. Last year she found 72 tri-colored bats and now there are 112. She is also testing for White-Nose Syndrome (WNS). During last year's investigation in two bats were found to have WNS. Initial reports show no visual evidence of WNS, which is a good sign. Results of the cotton swab DNA tests should be ready by late summer. Several species of bats, including endangered gray bats, use the cave at different times of the year. During the summer, educational bat viewing events are available at the mouth of the cave where 4,000 to 6,000 gray bats that come out at dusk to feed on insects. However, the cave has been closed to protect the bats until further notice. Sources: News Leader ,  USFWS/Ann Froschauer  and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters

Shelly Colatskie has been a Cave Ecologist at Missouri Department of Conservation for 6 years. During this time she has worked with numerous caving and government organizations to preserve and study bats. She even worked with Missouri Bat Census , an organization founded by Kirsten Alvey-Mudd , an Extraordinary Woman Caver.  In February 2017 she received the G. Andy Runge Wildlife Award for the Missouri Department of Conservation from the Missouri Chapter of the Wildlife Society for making the Sodalis Nature Preserve in Hannibal a reality. The mine passages provide hibernation habitat to at least 168,000 Indiana bats, which is one-third of all the Indiana bats known to exist. Sources: KHMO ,  USFWS/Ann Froschauer

Nicole Davis was chosen to be featured in the  Extraordinary Women Cavers Guidebook and Magazine  for along side several other extraordinary women cavers in the 2017 August release of the annual publication. Nicole worked as a tour guide at Lewis and Clark Caverns during graduate school at Montana State University while earning her Master of Science in Earth Sciences when she fell into caving. While working on her fellowship in the Geology PhD program at the University of Cincinnati , she explored caves with the Greater Cincinnati Grotto and even took two one-month-long expeditions to study glaciers on Mt. Everest and Mt. Kailash in Tibet. Nicole became a cave mapper with the Dusty Cavers and Western Mappers and has participated cave maps, geology studies, and dozens of survey trips in Crystal, Buckelew and Scroll caves. She is also on the 2017 board of Southern Arizona Grotto (SAG). Welcome Nicole and congratulations on becoming an EWC! Photo by Jessica Pruitt ...

Blanca Aili Usuga was chosen to be featured in the Extraordinary Women Cavers Guidebook and Magazine for along side several other extraordinary women cavers in the 2017 August release of the annual publication. Blanca became a member of South Wales Caving Club in 2010. In 2012 she found two unexplored Colombian caving areas called Mortiñal Cave System and the Valley of Deep Holes containing more than twelve sinkholes and caves. Blanca organized an international expedition in 2015 to explore the sinkholes that resulted in the survey and mapping of nine caves - a total of 2046 meters of virgin cave systems. She has proposed the creation of a nature reserve and speleological park that is under way in each area.  Welcome Blanca and congratulations on becoming an EWC! Photo by Josh Bratchley

Joy Lyons, 56, a wife and the mother of three daughters passed after a long battle with cancer last week. Former Park City Mayor Gary Madison described Lyons to Glasgow Daily Times: “She was always willing to help with any project ..." Over the years in service “she helped look for lost visitors ... [and] treat injured visitors” said Brad McDougal, who started working at Mammoth Cave at about the same time as Lyons. Lyons began her career at Mammoth Cave in 1979 as a seasonal park aid. In 2004 she was promoted to chief of program services for the park’s division of interpretation and held the position retiring in 2013. “She did a lot for Mammoth Cave National Park, particularly the cave (and) the African-American history,” Bob Ward said. In a previous Daily Times’ article, Lyons said: “Mammoth Cave has an extensive black history and we’re not even identified ... [that way]. That was one of my objectives: to get the story of Mammoth Cave’s slave history out to the public, ...