All who hate mosquitoes and garden pests should be pleased with the news that the "Bike trail will spare bat refuge" (July 27). The last thing the best bat cave in the East needed to face was construction for a bike path and a steady stream of bikers. People can pedal elsewhere.

Whole bat species are struggling to survive against the march of white nose syndrome. This fungus has decimated bat populations in the Northeast and is relentlessly spreading. Mortality is over 90 percent once a winter roost is infected. Humans may be helping to spread it.

Wildlife just needs a little unintruded space to hang on in a human-dominated landscape. Glad the Maryland Department of Natural Resources found the will to leave bats a toe-hold.

D. Paugh, Bowie