A Night at the Hatchery | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Improving bat outreach at Erwin National Fish Hatchery

Sep 18, 2023

Written By

Rebekah Ewing

Tyler Hern

A group of people sitting at a picnic tables listening to a presentation.

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USFWS canopy tent set up at Erwin National Fish Hatchery. The tent has a display showing the lifecycle of rainbow trout, and tables showing various outreach materials such as stuffed animals and coloring sheets.

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Erwin National Fish Hatchery partnered with the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency, East Tennessee State University, and the Tennessee Ecological Services Field Office to host a Night at the Hatchery, this was free family friendly outreach event for the local community that highlighted our local bats. The event began with hosted hatchery tours and included time focusing on the pollinator and native plant gardens. Additional activities included hatchery created coloring sheets and in-depth discussions about the hatchery's native pollinator work.

As the sun began to set the focus shifted to bats. Guest speakers, David Pelren from the Tennessee Ecological Services Field Office, Chris Ogle from Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, and Seth Morelock from East Tennessee State University gave a great presentation about bats in Tennessee. Afterwards mist net demonstrations were set up and monitored throughout the night to check for bat activity. No bats were caught; however, bats were seen flying around the hatchery throughout the evening!