It was a blistering hot day at the Red River Wildlife Management area near Elk City when Boise based Rita Dixon walked in after a long day in the field searching for abandoned mines. After grabbing a glass of cold water and some food, Dixon gathered gear and checked her map for another nighttime session of bat tracking. Working for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game as a non-game biologist means Dixon looks after the critters on public lands that walk, swim, crawl, or fly but which are not hunted.

“I was born in Tennessee and both sides of my family were farmers,” she explains. “My brother and I spent a lot of time on our grandparents’ farms and we were outside all the time. I really think that’s why I chose the work I do today.”

Dixon’s father was in the Air Force and then transferred to the Navy after Vietnam, which meant some moving, but with her grandparents’ farms as anchors, Rita did not feel displaced. One move in particular she enjoyed.

“Dad was transferred to a base in Florida adjacent to what is now a black bear preserve but which we got to explore as kids,” she recalls.

After finishing high school, Dixon went on to complete her BA in Biology at the University of California, Riverside. It was then that the travel bug bit hard.

“I worked at a fish camp in Alaska and also did a stint up there as a whitewater rafting guide. But then, I really branched out and traveled to Europe, Africa, Greece, and Scandinavia before I decided to focus my life.”

Like the trained scientist she was, Dixon says she sat down and thought about all the things that were important to her and what she could do with that interest.

“I realized the thing I loved most was ornithology,” she says. “So I got an internship at the Manomet Bird Observatory on Cape Cod to find out if I really did want to be an ornithologist.”

That experience was followed by an internship with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Arizona and finally a position with the U.S. Forest Service in LaGrande, Oregon where for three years she focused on woodpecker and owl research. That experience led her to enroll in a Master’s degree program in Ecology at the University of Idaho, with a focus on white-headed woodpeckers. This past summer she finished her PhD in Natural Resources at the University of Idaho.

“I was hired by IDFG in May of 2000,” she says. “I started in the Clearwater Region as the non-game biologist with a focus on developing the non-game program.”

After three years in that position, Dixon moved to Boise where she became the zoology program leader. Now, as the Biodiversity Program Leader she interfaces between the botany and zoology state programs.

“In the southeast part of Idaho, the aspen stands are doing poorly. This means that the animals that depend on the aspen are struggling, too. As the biodiversity leader I try to bring the pieces together into a whole picture to find out what is happening and what we can do about it.”

But where do bats come in?

“Well, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has contracted with IDFG to conduct surveys on abandoned mines statewide because the majority of old mines are on BLM land. Our job is to find the old mines and decide which ones are most likely to get human visitation and whether or not they are safe to enter. At the same time, we know these mines and mine shafts are often critical habitats for bats so we have to analyze the physical characteristics of the sites to find out if they are suitable for bats.”

Which brings us to her night foray.

Idaho has fourteen species of bats, with four listed as species of greatest conservation concern, meaning that their numbers are so low they are at risk of extinction, but have not yet made it onto the Endangered Species List.

“Two species, the Townsend and Big Eared bats, are declining in Idaho. These bats are closely tied to mines and caves, so as we enact mine closures we may be reducing needed habitat.”

Dixon says to keep bat habitat available the BLM and USFS often use “bat friendly closures” to prohibit human entrance to mines and shafts but still provide habitat for bats.

“The three biggest issues facing bats are mine closures, wind energy, and an emerging infectious disease called white nose syndrome,” Dixon explains.

Scientists believe that the disease was accidentally brought into the US from Europe on a caver’s clothes or boots. Now, bats along the mid-Atlantic coast, Ontario and Quebec are being infected. Dixon hopes the disease does not travel to Idaho.

Despite her continued interest in birds, Dixon has also become enthralled with bats. And she is a treasure trove of bat trivia. I learned while talking to her that bats enter true hibernation each year, some as early as October, with an emergence from that state in April or May. Dixon also told me that the oldest known bat was 41 years and that they live an average of thirty years!

“Bats have one ‘pup’ a year,” she said. “And unlike rodents or birds, they will not rebreed if the pup dies.”

And the reason bats like attics is simple: they are warm places to roost and bear young.

“Maternity season runs from May to the end of August,” says Dixon. “It is a live birth and the female nurses the young from teats in her arm pits. Bats mate in the fall and the female stores the sperm inside her for delayed fertilization so that pups are born during the summer.”

When I asked Dixon what she thought was one of the most interesting things she has learned about bats, she was quick to respond.

“When I have rehabilitated bats that were injured or dehydrated I have been able to observe their behavior on a daily basis. It was a surprise to learn that they are extremely communicative and are very social animals.”

Dixon was also eager to debunk the rabid bat scenario.

“Less then one half of one percent of bats in the wild gets rabies. When they do they exhibit symptoms of lethargy, loss of appetite, become dehydrated, and are too weak to fly.”

But despite her current bat assignment, ornithology remains her true love.

Despite her years of experience as a scientist, Dixon remains amazed at the interwoven fabric of the natural world. The white-headed woodpecker feeds almost exclusively on Ponderosa pine trees. But in Canada, the pine beetle is killing large numbers of Ponderosa.

“While this is bad news for the white headed woodpecker, it may help other wood peckers that forage on dead and dying trees,” Dixon explains. “The same is true of issues surrounding global warming. Some species will thrive and expand their habitat while others may become imperiled.”

Dixon says one of her “absolutely best” outdoor experiences happened years ago in Oregon while she was doing white-headed woodpecker research. After banding three birds, it took her a week to pick up any radio signals and when she did, “I grabbed my field vest out of the car and took off. It took me all day to find one bird right before dark and I found the second one right at dark. It was then I realized I was off my map and didn’t know where I was. I had no food but did have an illuminated compass so I picked a route and hiked until 10 pm when I found a travel trailer with hunters in it. They kindly drove me back to my car. But what I realized as I was hiking in the dark was how at home I felt in the woods. Great horned owls were hooting, coyotes were howling, and the gravel was crunching under my feet and I felt perfectly free and safe.”

Dixon hopes that Idaho residents will volunteer to help in the non-game wildlife program.

“We love to have people volunteer because with our limited budget it is a real need we have.”

Dixon says people can call up their regional IDFG office or contact headquarters in Boise to find out how they can help.

And someday, if you are lucky, you might be able to feel as at home in the woods as Rita Dixon.