Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Displeased chirps rang out through the air at Sylvan Lake State Park on a recent June evening just after sundown.
Little brown bats had left the suitcase-sized wooden boxes in which they live in search of dinner as they do every night, but instead found themselves captured in a mist net strung up by researchers. The tiny animals writhed and bared their teeth as they bit the fingers of the crew members inspecting them for signs of white-nose syndrome.
But that night, none of the 25 bats measured, weighed and swabbed appeared to carry the fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, which causes white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that has killed millions of bats across the United States.
Four years after the initial discovery of the fungus in Colorado — and three years after the first case of the resulting white-nose syndrome — it remains unclear what the impacts of the devastating fungal pathogen will be in the state.
Read the complete story at rmpbs.or
Displeased chirps rang out through the air at Sylvan Lake State Park on a recent June evening just after sundown.
Little brown bats had left the suitcase-sized wooden boxes in which they live in search of dinner as they do every night, but instead found themselves captured in a mist net strung up by researchers. The tiny animals writhed and bared their teeth as they bit the fingers of the crew members inspecting them for signs of white-nose syndrome.
But that night, none of the 25 bats measured, weighed and swabbed appeared to carry the fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, which causes white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that has killed millions of bats across the United States.
Four years after the initial discovery of the fungus in Colorado — and three years after the first case of the resulting white-nose syndrome — it remains unclear what the impacts of the devastating fungal pathogen will be in the state.
Read the complete story at rmpbs.or





![Offseason? For ski joring champions?
Cresting over a steep hill, the early morning sun spotlighted dozens of black cows sprinkled among rolling green pastures framed by the peaks of Iles and Three Points Mountains. Nearly 40 cowboys and cowgirls prepared for the most important work of the year: branding day.
Some of the hardest workers in this group were a champion horse and rider who never really take a day off.
“They are such a good team,” said Megan Smith, herd manager at Yellow Jacket Ranch near Meeker, Colorado. “I think they wake up at [level] 10 and theyre ready to go.”
Megan is referring to her husband, Patrick, and their five-year-old quarter horse, Frankie Moon. This winter, Patrick and Frankie Moon won first place in ski joring events in Estes Park, Grand Lake, and Leadville. The latter is considered the “Grand Daddy Of Em All,” and Patrick and Frankie Moon’s victory there solidified them as stars of the esoteric sport.
Read more at rmpbs.org/news
Produced by Polina Sarana and Amanda Horvath Offseason? For ski joring champions?](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_mUgx-GU5Xg/mqdefault.jpg)




