Region 1 acoustic bat inventory: national wildlife refuges in eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Idaho

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An acoustic bat inventory was initiated in 2012 and conducted in summer 2012 and 2013 to obtain baseline data on bat populations on national wildlife refuges (NWRs) in eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Idaho. The project was tiered to the Oregon–Washington Bat Grid in order to facilitate use of data at larger scales. Objectives of the project were as follows: 1) Develop protocols for acoustic bat detection on NWRs. 2) Document the occurrence and activity of bats on NWRs. 3) Provide baseline data for use in developing general monitoring strategy and assessing future impact of White-nose Syndrome. 4) Provide data in formats that are easily accessible to site managers, scientists, and the public. Seventeen refuges in the three states participated in the project. Data were reported for 124 sites sampled, but equipment problems occurred for various reasons in 6 of them. Those 6 were not resampled and not included in the study. A total of 14 bat species was detected on the 17 refuges sampled. Hoary bat, silver-haired bat and little brown myotis were detected on all refuges while western small-footed myotis and Yuma myotis were detected on 16 refuges. In contrast, Brazilian free-tailed bat was only detected on Hart Mountain, where it is just north of its mapped range. Canyon bat was detected at 6 refuges, including Kootenai. Kootenai is well north of the mapped range of canyon bat. Townsend’s big-eared bat was detected at 7 refuges. Townsend’s big-eared bat is very vulnerable to human disturbance, is experiencing population declines, and is classified as a sensitive species in Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. Pallid bat was only detected at 4 refuges (Hart Mountain, Conboy Lake, Hanford Reach, and Columbia). Pallid bats are gregarious and locally common in arid habitats. Spotted bat was not detected in our study. This species may have been under sampled by our method of sampling water features. The species is considered to be wide-spread, but uncommon. Specifics of survey results are included in this report.

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ELECTRONIC FILE - Zoology: Mammals

SWAP (2/19/2016) citation:
Barnett JK. 2014. Region 1 acoustic bat inventory: national wildlife refuges in eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Idaho. Portland (OR): US Fish and Wildlife Service, Pacific Region. 63 p. [accessed 2016 Feb 02]. http://www.fws.gov/malheur/pdf/bat_inventory_region1.pdf