Bat surveys on USFS Northern Region lands in Montana: 2005

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The distribution and status of bats in Montana remain poorly documented on US Forest Service Northern Region lands. This is of conservation interest because management activities on Forest Service lands (e.g., timber harvest, mine closures, closures of historic buildings) may have unintended consequences on habitats bats use for roosting and foraging and may therefore negatively impact bat populations. The Northern Region recognized the need for additional documentation of bats on Forest Service lands to address inventory and monitoring requirements, and initiated bat surveys in 2005 across the Region on selected National Forest (NF) Ranger Districts (RD). Eleven species of bats, represented by 795 total individuals, were captured during late-June to mid-August 2005. The 2005 field survey filled important gaps in documented distributions in Montana, adding several new county records and underscoring the need for additional survey effort to define bat distributions on USFS landscapes more fully. A summary of all existing bat records across the region clearly shows large distribution gaps for all species, further underscoring the need for additional surveys. We recommend that the USFS Northern Region continue with a grid-based random sampling scheme stratified by ecoregion or Ranger District, resulting in a site-occupancy approach that allows for valid inference of presence across the selected stratum.

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ELECTRONIC FILE - Zoology: Mammals

SWAP (2/19/2016) citation:
Hendricks P and Maxell BA. 2005. Bat surveys on USFS Northern Region land in Montana: 2005. Helena (MT): Montana Natural Heritage Program. 12 p. Report to the US Forest Service, Northern Region. Agreement No.: 05-CS-11015600-033. [accessed 2015 Dec 4]. https://archive.org/stream/C26F4981-9BB9-40DA-AA60-B3369E23F6CA#page/n11...