The agency draft revised plan identifies research needs that will help pinpoint the causes of decline for the Indiana bat, allowing development of strategies to help restore its populations," said William Hartwig, Regional Director for the Service.
The Indiana bat was listed as endangered in 1967 under the precursor to the Federal Endangered Species Act. Major threats to the bat are believed to be human disturbance of hibernating bats, as well as lack of access by bats to hibernation caves. Other threats are under study.
The Service approved the Indiana Bat Recovery Plan in 1983. Biologists have noted a 60 percent decline in Indiana bat numbers from the 1960s through the mid-1990s. The Indiana Bat Recovery Team, comprised of Federal and state biologists and other bat experts, have developed a revised draft plan based on the bats current status. The agency draft plan incorporates comments solicited by the Recovery Team from bat experts and state agency personnel including updated population, distribution and habitat research. These updates in biologicial information can lead to revisions to existing recovery plans, and a public comment period on the recovery plan.
Recovery plans are developed for federally endangered or threatened species and are used as a blueprint for agencies to guide them toward restoring and recovering a species. The goal is to bring populations to a point that protection of the Endangered Species Act is no longer necessary.
Indiana bats are currently found in 26 states in the eastern U.S. They feed exclusively on flying insects, hibernate in caves or mines in the winter, and maintain maternity colonies in trees during the summer. Known bat numbers in the mid-1990s were estimated at 353,000, which is thought to be a decline of 60 percent from 1960s numbers.
Copies of the Indiana Bat Agency Draft Revised Recovery Plan may be purchased from the Fish and Wildlife Reference Service, 5430 Grosvenor Lane, Suite 110, Bethesda, Maryland 20814 (telephone: 301-492-6403 or 800-582-3421), or may be obtained from the Services website at http://www.fws.gov/r3pao/pdf/bat.pdf. Comments on the draft plan must be received by June 8 and should be addressed to: Field Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 608 East Cherry Street, Room 200, Columbia, Missouri 65201. Access to the Services Region 3 HomePage at www.fws.gov/r3pao/eco_serv/endangrd/index.html will provide facts and a photo of the Indiana bat. The revised Indiana bat recovery plan will be prepared once the Service has considered the comments received on the agency draft revised plan.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish and wildlife and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System comprising more than 500 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands, and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries and 78 ecological services field stations.
The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state wildlife agencies. For further information about the programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our home page at: http://www.fws.gov/r3pao/
