Bats are bioindicators, and an important species for monitoring water quality and overall health of forest and wetland ecosystems. Their numbers can also measure ecosystems restoration and improvement. This five-year project will restore natural bat roosting habitat within a five-hectare area to build resiliency in local populations. Enhancement work will be integrated into wetland restoration projects in the North and Upper Columbia sub-regions; areas being evaluated include Meadow Creek, Duncan, Beaton and Parson. The initiative will be led by Wildlife Conservation Society Canada and supported by regional partners.
“In many parts of the Columbia Basin, standing water provides excellent foraging and drinking habitat for an estimated 12 species of bats. But many species depend on low elevation mature or old growth trees to raise a pup in each summer and this roosting habitat is limiting,” said Dr. Cori Lausen, Conservation Research Biologist with Wildlife Conservation Society Canada. “Over the next five years we will work with multiple partners to install and monitor structures that will enhance roosting habitat for bats in strategic areas of the North and Upper Columbia sub-regions.”
