Col. Travis J. Rayfield relinquishes command of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City District to Col. Andrew T. Niewohner during a ceremony hosted by Brig. Gen. William C. Hannan Jr., commander of the Northwestern Division, on July 25, 2024, at the National World War I Museum and Memorial Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.
It’s the season to be spooky and there are few things spookier than a swarm of bats bursting out of a haunted house for a classic jump scare. Thinking of bats as merely creepy creatures roaming the night makes for good entertainment and spooky Halloween folklore.
But bats are one of the most unique and misunderstood animals on our planet. Today, North American bats face an existential threat from a disease called White-nose syndrome.
On a balmy morning in late September, a motley group took a walk in the woods around Harry S. Truman Lake. The crew made for a strange sight; loaded down with tools, chainsaws, water bottles, and accompanied by a few horses. To a random passerby they looked more like the pioneers who followed the Missouri River westward, than a modern-day gathering—but this group wasn’t there to blaze a trail, they were there to preserve one.
