m*0irr04-f L5 A SURVEY OF THE BATS OF THE TOWNSEND RANGER DISTRICT MONTANA HELENA NATIONAL FOREST, Final Report September 1993 by Thomas W. Butts Montana Natural Heritage Program 1515 East Sixth Avenue Helena, Montana 59620 for the Helena National Forest, U.S. Forest Service 599.4 -N11SBTRD __1993 1 .WuJLu_i MontanaStateLibrary 3 0864 1004 3977 Ol aanssi '.' Hontana natural Heritage Prograa This document should be cited as follows: Butts, Thomas W. 1993. A survey of the bats of the Townsend Ranger District, Helena National Forest, Montana. Montana Natural Heritage Program. Helena. MT. 16 pp. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2 METHODS 3 Equipment 3 Bat identification 4 Site selection 5 RESULTS 6 DISCUSSION 12 SUMMARY 14 LITERATURE CITED 15 LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1 Biological data of bats captured on the Townsend : Ranger District, Helena, National Forest, 1992. . . 8 INTRODUCTION The Endangered Species Act of 1973, Section 7 (a)(2) mandates that any federal agency assure that any of its actions "(are) not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any endangered or threatened species or result in the destruction or adverse modification of (its) habitat" (Finch 1992). In addition, the National Forest Management Act of 1976 and United States Forest Service (USFS) policy require that the Forest Service must maintain viable populations of native vertebrates in national forests (Sec. 219 (12)(g) and "where appropriate and to the extent practicable, ...preserve and enhance the diversity of plant and animal communities" (Finch 1992). There are presently 14 species of bats in Montana (Thompson 1982). Five species are listed by the Montana Natural Heritage Program as species of special concern. These are the Pallid bat (Antrozous pallidus) the Spotted bat , (Euderma maculatum) Townsend s big-eared bat (Plecotus , ' townsendii) the Fringed myotis (Myotis thysanodes) and the , , Northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis) Genter ( 1993). The first three are listed as sensitive by the Northern Region (R 1) of the USFS (Mumma 1991). Sensitive species are "those plant and animal species identified by the Regional Forester for which population viability is a concern as evidenced by: a) Significant current or predicted downward trends in population numbers and density; 2) Significant current or predicted downward trends in habitat capability that would reduce a species' existing distribution" (Reel et al. 1989). In 1992, Jean LaVelle, the biologist for the Townsend District of the Helena National Forest contacted me about conducting several nights of bat surveys on the Townsend Ranger District near Townsend, Montana, to document species occurrence and relative densities for use in Forest management decisions. The results of these studies are presented here. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Field work for this study was performed by Tom Butts with the assistance of Michelle Brown and Jeremy Butts. Dave Genter of the Montana Natural Heritage Program provided direction, suggestions, editing of reports, field assistance, equipment, and bat identification. Funding for the study was provided by the Townsend Ranger District and the Montana Natural Heritage Program.