Development of Action plan for the conservation of populations of cave-dwelling bats in Bulgaria (Rhinolophus mehelyi, Rhinolophus hipposiderus, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, Rhinolophus Euryale, Rhinolophus blasii, Myotis myotis, Myotis blythii, Myotis emarginatus, Myotis capaccinii and Miniopterus schreibersii) for the period 2019 – 2028

The project proposal is based on developing an Action Plan for conservation of the population of cave-dwelling bats on the territory of Bulgaria for ten-year period. The main objective is improving the conservation status of the cave-dwelling bats in Bulgaria by identifying the necessary restorative, supportive and other conservation measures for the protection of their populations. Specific objective 1 is ‘Providing up-to-date, high quality and sufficient for the purpose of developing an Action Plan data for the cave-dwelling bats in Bulgaria’. Specific objective 2 is ‘Prioritization of threats and limiting factors for cave-dwelling bats in Bulgaria, whose impact should be controlled, overcome or limited’. Specific objective 3 is ‘Providing appropriate long-term planning base for the conservation of the population of cave bats in Bulgaria’. 13 activities are planned to ensure management and coordination of the project; accordance with the approved Assignment for the development of the Action Plan; transparency; better understanding; receiving feedback from directly interested stakeholders on the implementation of the Action Plan and from the general public in terms of the quality of work and reaching agreement on the draft Action Plan. The project proposal foresees visit of known underground deposits in Natura 2000 protected sites where target bat species have not been established, but are subject of conservation; significant underground bat roosts in North (at least 10 bat roots) and South Bulgaria (at least 6 bat roots); caves with constructed but unusable infrastructure and spring caves, capped for water supply; newly constructed road, energy and other industrial infrastructures; detour of abandoned railways. The planned field studies fall within at least 30 Natura 2000 protected sites, described in details in Annex. The expected result is: Endorsed Action Plan for conservation of the population of cave- dwelling bats on the territory of Bulgaria.

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