The Arkansas Forestry Association says it can live with a recent U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to list the northern long-eared bat as a threatened species while allowing most forest management practices to continue unabated.
“From our perspective a threatened listing is obviously more palatable than an endangered listing,” said Max Braswell, executive vice president of the Arkansas Forestry Association. “We don’t think (the listing) will have a significant impact on us, but we will continue to be vigilant.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had considered adding the bat to the endangered species list but settled instead on the “threatened” listing — offering the bats some protection from human harm — but also included a rule allowing the timber industry to continue most of its forest-management practices and timber harvesting.
The fungus that causes the deadly white nose syndrome has been detected in 28 of the 37 states inhabited by the northern long-eared bat, including Arkansas. “We are listing this species because a disease — white-nose syndrome — is spreading and decimating its populations,” said the Service’s Midwest Regional Director Tom Melius. “We designed the 4(d) rule to provide appropriate protection within the area where the disease occurs for the remaining individuals during their most sensitive life stages, but to otherwise eliminate unnecessary regulation.”
Under the proposed 4(d) rule, the timber industry would be free to harvest trees, clear undergrowth and continue typical forest management activities but would not be able to cut trees within a quarter-mile of the caves where the bats are hibernating. They would also be blocked from cutting trees within a quarter-mile of where a mother bat is roosting her young, which typically occurs in June and July.
From the Times Record: https://swtimes.com/news/state-news/forestry-association-ok-threatened-bat-status