fieldnotes
Images
Restoring Agave
Working to create an agave corridor for bats
Agaves blooming in Big Bend National Park, Texas.
Photo: Dr. Kristen Lear
In the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico, Bat Conservation International (BCI) and partners are working together to help restore agaves, which are a vital food source for bats that travel along this corridor. Agave restoration involves a number of steps, from collecting agave seeds, to raising young plants, to planting them out in the wild to eventually become a food source for bats.
Step 1: Seed Collection
The first step of this restoration process is to collect agave seeds. BCI and partners travel into the field to locate agaves in bloom, and work to collect seeds from these towering stalks.
Agave seeds that will be used for restoration.
Photo: Dan Taylor
BCI staff collecting agave seeds at The Nature Conservancy Marathon Grasslands Preserve in Texas.
Photo: Dr. Kristen Lear
Step 2: Nursery
Once the seeds are collected, they are planted and raised in nurseries until they are ready to survive in the wild.
Agave seedlings growing at Sul Ross State University in Texas.
Photo: Nahum Sanchez/CEMEX
A rural community member checking the community’s agave seedlings in northeast Mexico.
Photo: Nahum Sanchez/CEMEX
Step 3: Planting
When the young agaves are ready, BCI and partners work together to plant them in the wild, taking special precautions to protect them from predators. Once they have a chance to grow, these plants will provide vital food for bats.
Young agaves ready to be planted.
Photo: Dr. Kristen Lear
National Park Service employee Helen Fitting, BCI’s Dan Taylor, and a member of the Arizona Conservation Corps plant agaves at Coronado National Memorial.
Photo: Dan Taylor