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In a move that worries loggers and mill owners, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Service) is once again considering adding the northern long-eared-bat, little brown bat, tricolored bat, and Indiana bat to federal protection by placing them under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Pushing for the ESA are the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Michigan DNR, and Wisconsin DNR, who recently submitted Habitat Conservation Plans to the Service to protect the bats under the Endangered Species Act.
In 2015 the four bat species were placed in “threatened status” due to white-nose syndrome (WNS), a deadly fungus that grows on bats’ ears, noses, wings and muzzles.
Congressman Pete Stauber and a handful of Republican Congressman reached out to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Director Martha Williams urging the agency to stop restricting the Lakes States Habitat Conservation Plans (HCP) for bat species that he said “could devastate rural economies, and instead let our local experts manage our forests.
“State and local officials, and not the Federal government, understand how to manage their wildlife populations,” said Congressman Stauber. “New restrictions put forward by the USFWS are just another example of the Federal government stepping over local officials. The science is clear: the same bat species targeted by these restrictions are not harmed by sustainable forest management, nor is there any connection to human involvement regarding their primary threat, a disease that healthy forest management has been proven to help mitigate.”
Congressman Stauber added, “The only result we will see from these misguided restrictions is devastation to rural economies and local family logging businesses. My colleagues and I urge USFWS, state and local leaders and industry to work together on the Lakes States HCP and avoid adding restrictions that could be economically and ecologically harmful.”
Joining Congressman Stauber on the letter to Martha Williams are Rep. Tom Tiffany (WI-07), Rep. Jack Bergman (MI-01), Rep. Dan Newhouse (WA-04), Rep. Russ Fulcher (ID-01), Rep. John Moolenaar (MI-04), Rep. Cliff Bentz (OR-02), Rep. Brad Finstad (MN-01), Rep. Tom Emmer (MN-06), Rep. Michelle Fischbach (MN-07), Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX-01), and Rep. Bruce Westerman (AR-04).
Also supporting the letter are the American Loggers Council, Federal Forest Resource Coalition, Great Lakes Timber Professionals Association, National Wild Turkey Federation, Forest Resources Association, Minnesota Forest Industries, Minnesota Timber Producers Association, Minnesota Associated Contract Loggers and Truckers.
In June, Congressman Stauber introduced the ESA Flexibility Act to grant landowners leeway and the USFWS flexibility when dealing with endangered species listed under the Endangered Species Act, including the northern long-eared bat.
Some history of WNS
White-nose syndrome is believed to have originated in Europe, where it has been found in 12 countries. The difference is that European bats have adapted to the fungus. Because bats do not travel across continents, it is thought that people must have carried the fungus to North America.
According to a study done by researchers from the Illinois History Survey (who worked out of the University of Illinois), the fungus proliferates in caves in temperatures under 68 degrees Fahrenheit. It infects sleeping bats, causing burns and holes in the skin. Only an extremely acidic area (cave or mine) can hold off the fungus, which grows long after all bats have left a cave. Newer research has shown that caves or mines in drier and cooler areas tend to have less of the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome.
In the U.S., white-nose syndrome was discovered in northern long-eared bats in New York in 2006-2007. Since its discovery, it has spread to 32 states and five Canadian provinces and has been responsible for killing more than 5.7 million bats.
The disease causes fuzzy white growths on the noses and faces of the bats, and the fungus eats its way into their wings. Sick bats will awaken from hibernation. It is believed they fly out into the cold and die from exposure or starvation when no bugs can be found.
On January 21, 2010, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service received a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity requesting that the northern long-eared bat and eastern small-footed bat be listed as threatened or endangered. After a thorough review, the Service determined that the eastern small-footed bat didn’t warrant protection. Still, on October 2, 2013, the Service published a proposal to list the northern long-eared bat on the Endangered Species List, a move that could have shut down logging and other outdoor construction activities during the bat’s mating and roosting time during summer and fall.
In 2013 two sites in Minnesota, the Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park in the state’s southeastern corner near Zumbrarro and the Soudan Underground Mine State Park on the Iron Range were found to house the WNS fungus. In that initial search, three little brown bats and one northern long-eared bat were found infected. An illustration of how fast the fungus spreads comes from nearby Wisconsin. In 2014 a Wisconsin DNR bat crew found 11 bats infected in a Grant County mine. That mine was found free of the WNS fungus in 2013.
In Minnesota, two types of bats—the northern long-eared bat and the little brown bat– have been discovered to have WNS. The northern long-eared bat roosts in boreal forests behind loose pieces of bark or hollow trees, or even buildings. During hibernation, the northern long-eared bat likes to hibernate in caves and mines. Females tend to be larger than males and usually have only one pup in the fall. These bats feed on various insects, including beetles, moths, flies, leafhoppers and caddisflies.
Minnesota DNR employees discovered several hundred bats dead near the cave entrance of the Lake Vermillion- Soudan Underground Mine State Park site in January 2016. The bats all suffered from WNS.
The fungus (pseudogymnoascus destructans) causes an infection in hibernating bats that leaves them weakened and susceptible to starvation, dehydration, and secondary infections. It does not affect other animals or people.
Bats, which eat up to 1,000 mosquitos per hour, migrate within a 280-mile range.
Eleven species (including four endangered species) have been affected by the disease or are immediately threatened by it. Among the bats affected in Minnesota are the northern long-eared bat and the little brown bat.
According to the Center for Biological Diversity, bats account for one-fifth of all mammals on earth and eat millions of pounds of flying insects each year. A recent study found that the value of bat pest control services in the United States ranges from $3.7 billion to $5.3 billion per year.
The medium-sized bats are 3 to 3.7 inches with a wingspan of 9 to 10 inches, fur colored medium to dark brown on the back, and tawny to pale brown on the underside. They eat moths, flies, leafhoppers, caddis fish, and beetles found in 39 states.
If it goes through, the ruling protecting bats could have a disastrous effect on loggers, sawmill owners, and construction companies during the summer months when bats are in their summer habitat and spend time roosting underneath cavities or in the bark of both live and dead trees, caves and mines, and in structures like barns or sheds.
Loggers would be directly affected because one of the key provisions in the act is prohibiting the cutting of bat habitat during the bat’s maternity season, April 1 to September 30. In addition, no trees larger than 3 inches in diameter could be cut during the summer under the rules proposed by the USFWS.
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