droppings were present in the passage, but no bats. The adit at the "CM & M Pit" is more 

 substantial. The portal, behind barb-wire fencing, is an open timbered headframe leading to a 

 simple decline about 8' tall x 10' wide extending about 360' to the drift face. There are no side 

 passages. We found scattered Myotis droppings and a few larger bat droppings (Eptesicus?) near 

 the drift face. Neither of the CM & M workings were monitored overnight. 



Lisbon (T9S, R27E, Sec. 4NESW). Two workings at this mine site, both adits, were visited on 

 25 and 26 July: "Lisbon Point East" and "Lisbon Point West." The "East" adit (6800' elevation) 

 is a level working extending about 92' beyond an open portal 6.5' tall x 16' wide. There are three 

 areas of side-workings extending only a few feet along the passage. No bats or bat droppings 

 were noted. The "West" adit (6800' elevation) is apparently an active working once again, 

 renamed "Pack Rat Load Claim" and posted on 31 October 1997 by the claimant, C Tucker (P.O. 

 Box 22575, Billings, MT 59104). The portal is blocked by a locked gate of rebar (20 x 20 cm 

 spacing) in a wooden frame. Beyond the portal is a decline visible for about 100' (Madson and 

 Hanson [1993] state the passage extends about 200'), in which are stored a variety of mining 

 supplies. Outside of the portal is a generator protected by a plywood barrier. The site is posted 

 "No Trepassing", and the entire Lisbon Mine site is behind a BLM Closed Road sign. There 

 were recent ATV tracks in the road to the "East" adit. 



DISCUSSION 



Our summer trapping at the abandoned mines on the south side of the Pryor Mountains in T9S, 

 R27E resulted in capture of three species of bats at five workings (Table 1): Western Small- 

 footed Myotis, Western Long-eared Myotis, and Big Brown Bat. In addition, we heard Spotted 

 Bat on three nights at three sites, but these animals were probably passing between foraging 

 areas and roosting clitTs, as this bat is not thought to be a mine-dwelling species (Tuttle and 

 taylor 1994, Foresman 2001a). The three species of bats we captured at the mines are found 

 throughout Montana, although there exist large gaps between documented locations (Foresman 

 2001a), even for the cosmopolitan Big Brown Bat. Despite broad continental distributions, 

 Western Small-footed Myotis and Western Long-eared Myotis are U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service species of special concern (Harvey et al. 1999) because of unknown or declining 

 population trends and overall vulnerability. Sites where significant activity of these two species 

 is documented probably should be considered for protection, if such measures are not already in 

 place. 



Our 2001 assessment showed that most of the abandoned mine workings still accessible to bats 

 were used by them in summer to greater or lesser extent, corroborating the findings of Martinez 

 (1995) based on bat detector surveys. Most of the mine workings we inspected were likely used 

 primarily as temporary summer night roosts, as mines affording the greatest protection for 

 maternity roosts were generally too cold, and other workings were too shallow to offer stable 

 environments for hibernating bats during extreme fluctuations in winter weather. Furthermore, 

 most workings appeared to be visited by humans often enough to disturb any summer colonies 

 that might otherwise develop in warmer locations near portals. This is especially true for 

 Townsend's Big-eared Bat (Coiynorhiniis towusendii), another bat species of special concern 

 that is resident year-round in the Pryor Mountains ( Worthington 1991, Madson and Hanson 

 1993). 



