On Sept. 25, the Board of Game Commissioners took preliminary action to update the state’s list of threatened and endangered species, which includes downgrading three protected cave bat species and reclassifying them as state endangered species.

The three bat species, all of which have been decimated by white-nose syndrome since it appeared in Pennsylvania in 2008, are the northern long-eared bat, tri-colored bat and little brown bat.

Additionally, the board voted preliminarily to upgrade the peregrine falcon’s status from endangered to threatened; upgrade the piping plover from extirpated to endangered, and list the red knot – a federally threatened species – as a threatened species within Pennsylvania, as well.

The northern long-eared bat was listed as a federal threatened species in April 2015. In addition, tri-colored bats and little brown bats currently are being considered for protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

A state listing allows for the Game Commission to work with industry that might have projects affected by the presence of endangered or threatened species. While projects will continue to be reviewed by the Pennsylvania Natural Diversity Inventory (PNDI), regarding bats, the proposal would affect projects only if they’re within 300 meters of a recent maternity roost, hibernacula or capture location for threatened or endangered bats. Sites that held these bats prior to the arrival of white-nose syndrome, but not since, won’t affect projects.

If the preliminarily approved measure is adopted, only 34 new hibernation sites and 112 maternity sites statewide would be added into the PNDI.

Through a state-endangered listing, the Game Commission will coordinate with developers to resolve conflicts, pointed out Dan Brauning, Game Commission Wildlife Diversity Division Chief. For little brown and tri-colored bats, the Game Commission will be the lead agency in determining potential impacts. However, for northern long-eared bats, coordination by both the Game Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be necessary.

“These cave bats teeter on the brink of state extirpation; extinction is not yet out of the question,” Brauning noted. “Their need for additional protections is obvious and overdue. For the Game Commission to do anything less would be recklessly irresponsible.”

The Game Commission had moved to list these bats in 2012, but concerns about unnecessary oversight and job loss heard from representatives of timber, oil, coal and gas industries and legislators prompted additional discussion.

“The Game Commission strives to work whenever possible with industry, to save jobs, and be a part of sound state government,” emphasized agency Executive Director Bryan Burhans. “But we cannot look the other way as bats tumble toward extinction. This agency has statutory and state constitutional commitments to represent and conserve all wildlife for today and tomorrow.”

Because bats have lost upward of 97 percent of their historic populations in Pennsylvania, every remaining bat matters, Brauning said.

What works against these cave bats is their annual reproduction provides limited replacement. Most female cave bats have one pup per year, a rate that would place their potential recovery more than a century away.

There’s no doubt a state-endangered listing of these cave bat species will require the implementation of additional protective measures. But given the mammoth collapse of these winged mammals, there’s no doubt they need more help; the sooner, the better.

But some of the proposals for status change represent better news.

The peregrine falcon has seen a steady statewide recovery, which qualifies its status to be upgraded to threatened under the agency’s Peregrine Falcon Management Plan.

Upgrading the piping plover’s status to endangered recognizes its return to breeding in Pennsylvania After more than 60 years of absence, piping plover pairs successfully nested at Presque Isle State Park in 2017 and 2018.

And changing the status of the red knot – a rare migrant bird found in Pennsylvania mostly at Presque Isle State Park – recognizes its vulnerability to further declines.

The status changes will be brought back to the January meeting for a final vote. Click here to keep reading.

MEDIA CONTACT: Travis Lau – 717-705-6541

COURTESY OF PA GAME COMMISSION

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to support a proposal for further expansion of the Motus Wildlife Tracking System in Pennsylvania and four other states to monitor eight migratory species of greatest conservation and other wildlife.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission will lead a team involving the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Northeast Motus Collaboration and other partnering organizations to collect life-cycle information of seven migratory birds and one bat that have been in serious declines for at least years, and in some cases, decades.

The Northeast Motus Collaboration is a partnership of the Willistown Conservation Trust, Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art, Project Owlnet and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Powdermill Nature Reserve. The collaboration is housed under the Motus Wildlife Tracking System, established in 2013 by Bird Studies Canada. The network currently tracks wildlife from more than 500 stations around the world.

The USFWS is providing $497,929 to help underwrite this wildlife surveillance, which tracks migrating animals with nanotags – radio transmitters so small, they can be fitted to monarch butterflies. Collaboration member organizations and others are providing more than $225,000 to meet federal matching funding requirements.

The Pennsylvania species being targeted by this fieldwork are Swainson’s thrush, wood thrush, blackpoll warblers, Canada warblers, rusty blackbirds, American woodcock and northern long-eared bats. Other priority species, such as New England’s Bicknell’s thrush, also are targeted by this research.

“This project embodies contemporary wildlife conservation: state and federal government agencies working with private conservation organizations and universities to help species that demand more attention than traditional wildlife management can provide,” explained Game Commission Executive Director Bryan Burhans. “The agency is indebted to partner organizations, such as the Willistown Conservation Trust and the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art, for their commitment to wildlife. Today, conservation counts on partners more than ever before.”

Nanotags are the innovation that makes this research possible. They weigh as little as one-eighth the weight of a penny and can accomplish what much heavier telemetry gear couldn’t do as recently as 10 years ago. Almost overnight they have helped strengthen the science used in wildlife conservation.

Nanotags transmit a signal that can reach out about 10 miles. This project aims to provide more receiver stations to collect those nanotag transmissions. Currently, there are more than 40 in Pennsylvania. The expectation is that about 12 more receiving stations would be added under this proposal.

“Pennsylvania already is well equipped with receiving stations in western and southern counties,” explained Dan Brauning, who supervises the Game Commission’s Wildlife Diversity Division. “Clusters of new receiver stations will be established on the Pocono Plateau, as well as across the northern tier, and along the Kittatinny Ridge/South Mountain system.”

But this proposal covers more than Pennsylvania. It will work to establish more receiving stations in four other states: New York, Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware.

Receiver stations already are collecting information that has been pondered by ornithologists and bat biologists since the dawn of American wildlife conservation. Soon, they will know more about the specifics of migration than ever before. Click here to continue reading.

MEDIA CONTACT: Travis Lau – 717-705-6541

COURTESY OF PA GAME COMMISSION