Huntsville Bat Colony Presentation

Piney Woods Wildlife Society January Meeting and Program

When:  Tuesday, January 17, 2020
Where:  Dennis Johnston’s Big Stone Lodge, Dennis Johnston County Park, 709 Riley Fuzzel Road, Spring, Texas 77373
What:  Presentation on the Huntsville Bat Colony by Tommy Hoke

The January program for PWWS will be hybrid (in-person and via Zoom).  If you prefer to join in via Zoom, email Claire Moore at cdmoore3i@gmail.com for the link (or wait for the meeting reminder email if you currently receive the PWWS newsletters).

AT: Piney Woods Wildlife Society (specify: “Huntsville Bat Colony” by Tommy Hoke)

Additional Information:  

For the January program for Piney Woods, we will be discussing Huntsville, Texas, which is most known for being the home of General Sam Houston, the college that bears his name as well as the location of a number of prisons. However, in recent months, Huntsville has gained national attention for being home to an enormous colony of approximately 1 million Mexican free-tailed bats. Tommy Hoke will discuss how these bats came to reside in an abandoned cotton warehouse downtown, how their habitat has been teetering on the brink of destruction, and what is being done in an effort to protect and preserve them.

From the age of a young boy, Tommy Hoke was drawn to the outdoors, spending much of his childhood exploring the wilds of the Sam Houston National Forest which surrounded his childhood home. Countless days were spent hiking deep into the woods, following miles of creeks and gullies, taking note of every sight, sound, and smell that the woods had to offer. With such an amazing world, teeming with life just outside his front door, boredom was an unknown theoretical which would remain a mystery for nearly forty years, only to be explained in-depth by his future children in their teenage years. At 48 years old, Hoke’s appreciation and love for nature and the great outdoors has yet to diminish.

Over the course of the past decade, Hoke has made many trips to Huntsville to watch emergences of the Huntsville Bat Colony. He loves to show friends from out-of-town and family members these amazing creatures whenever he has the opportunity. In recent months the bats’ habitat has been on the verge of destruction. The abandoned building in which the bats spend much of the year was scheduled for demolition this winter, potentially destroying one of largest and most unique urban bat colonies in the world! Hoke decided to commit himself to educating local citizens regarding the value of bats to the local ecosystem and agricultural economy, in hopes of generating enough public outcry to save the bats. Taking to social media, he had no idea how far his message would spread and how many people would express their support and desire for protecting and preserving the bats.

Although the work to save the bats continues, Hoke has managed to bring national attention to the bats and has helped convince the Texas Department of Corrections, which owns the abandoned building the bats call home, to suspend their plans to raze the warehouse. Hoke has a bold plan to create a new habitat that he believes will ensure the preservation of the bats for generations to come. Hoke’s dream is to pattern a new habitat after the artificial bat cave located on the Bamberger Ranch Preserve, near Johnson City, Texas. The success of the cave there, and the fact that its designer has expressed a willingness to assist with designing a new cave in Huntsville, has Hoke very optimistic and excited about the future of the Huntsville Bat Colony.

Latest rules for bringing snacks: We are still not allowed to bring homemade items to the Big Stone Lodge (unfortunately) for social time. However, store bought items brought by members are welcome and NO LONGER have to be individually wrapped.