Endangered Bat Imperils Logging in Pennsylvania National Forest
11/19/98
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Title: Endangered Bat Imperils Logging in Pennsylvania National Forest
Source: Post-Gazette
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 11/19/98
Byline: Don Hopey
A rare, seldom-seen bat may knock logging out of the Allegheny National
Forest.
Environmentalists in September filed a notice of their intention to sue in
U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, asking to have all logging suspended
throughout the forest where an endangered Indiana bat was caught and
identified in August.
Yesterday, a complaint detailing their allegations was filed against the
U.S. Forest Service.
Indiana-based Heartwood Inc. and individuals belonging to its Pennsylvania
branch, the Allegheny Defense Project, are seeking a temporary restraining
order and permanent injunction shutting down the 61 logging operations in
the 510,000-acre forest that sprawls over Elk, McKean, Forest and Warran
counties in northwestern Pennsylvania. The complaint alleges that
continued cutting in the national forest would destroy critical bat
habitat.
"Studies show that the endangered bats are very loyal and if the habitat
is destroyed in areas where they are known to live, the bats will die,"
said William Luneburg, attorney for the environmentalists.
"Plus, continued cutting reduces usable habitat and could very well
interfere with the future recovery of the species."
The Indiana bat has been on the endangered species list since 1967, and
populations in Pennsylvania were estimated at 270 in 1995.
The Forest Service has not approved any new timbering contracts since
biologists from Penn State University, working for the Forest Service,
netted a single male Indiana bat in late August. The researchers also
identified 15 Indiana bat "vocalizations" at scattered locations within
the forest.
After the bat was identified, the Forest Service decided to allow tree
cutting to continue on existing contracts. It is also reviewing loggers'
activities to be sure they don't bother the bats.
"We have been working with some of the best bat scientists and the latest
technology for several years to find bats and protect their habitat,"
Kathy Frank, a spokeswoman for the Allegheny National Forest, said in a
statement.
"We believe we're following all legal obligations as set forth by the
Endangered Species Act. It is unfortunate that we would be sued over our
efforts to do what's right for threatened and endangered species."
Frank said the Forest Service has been in informal consultation with the
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and is moving toward a formal consultation
required by the federal Endangered Species Act.
Luneburg said the Allegheny Defense Project has questioned the Forest
Service's efforts on behalf of the bat in its challenges to a number of
National Forest timbering projects, and in another case pending in federal
court.
"Our appeals on a number of timber projects all raise questions about the
bats," he said. "The Forest Service has known for some time that the
habitat is suitable for these bats but has never done enough looking."
The case has been assigned to Judge Donetta Ambrose.
"We hope this can be resolved by January," Luneburg said. "The bats will
be returning to the trees beginning in March."
A small population of Indiana bats hibernates in a cave near Altoona in
Blair County, about 75 miles southeast of the national forest, which is
well within their summer foraging and roosting range. The bats like large
trees with loose bark, including dead and dying trees.
The Indiana bats were recently discovered on Bald Eagle Mountain in Blair
County, where their presence could delay construction of Interstate 99
between Tyrone and Port Matilda.
About 350,000 Indiana bats remain in the United States, down from 800,000
in 1960. Most hibernate in a handful of caves in Indiana, Kentucky and
Missouri.
Bats are the only major predator of night-flying insects such as
mosquitoes. In agricultural areas, they help control pests such as June
bugs, cucumber beetles and leaf hoppers. In forests, they feed on tent
caterpillar moths, thereby helping to protect forest health.
Nearly 40 percent of American bat species are in severe decline or already
listed as endangered, and populations worldwide are falling precipitously.
They are especially vulnerable to extinction from loss of habitat and are
slow to rebound from population drop-offs, in part because their
reproductive rates are low. Most species produce only one offspring a
year.
Endangered species discoveries have affected logging on national forest
lands in the Pacific Northwest.