(WFRV) – Officials with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) are encouraging residents to help bats during International Bat Week and to learn at an educational bat event statewide. The DNR says that bats are critical members of nature, providing significant benefits to the environment, economy and public health. Officials with the DNR say that white-nose syndrome, caused by a fungus attacking bare bat skin during hibernation, is the main cause of bat populations declining statewide. Recent bat surveys since 2014 show that little brown bats are somewhat rebounding at various hibernation sites statewide. The steep declines had been since 2014 when white-nose syndrome first reportedly arrived in the state.