🦇Watts at Work: Protecting Our Night Flyers⁠

August 14, 2025

These aren't just pictures of trees from around Western New York, these are action shots of environmental conservation in action! For today's field work photo drop, we're showcasing habitat assessments. Bob and Rachele from Watts' Environmental Team recently completed wildlife habitat assessments for the federally endangered northern long-eared bat across *eight* culvert replacement sites. These sites fall under New York State Department of Transportation's (NYSDOT) Region 5 counties, including sites within Erie, Niagara, and Chautauqua counties.  ⁠
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First, Why This Matters🌲⁠
The northern long-eared bat is listed as endangered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Therefore, in upstate New York, infrastructure projects near their habitat requires careful evaluation in an effort to maintain healthy ecosystems along with wildlife conservation. Before any federally funded construction begins, we assess potential impacts on these remarkable creatures, and their cousins, the Indiana bat. ⁠
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What Rachele and Bob Look For 🔍⁠
*Summer roosts: live or dead trees with cracks, cavities, and peeling bark where bats rest during the day⁠ (day roosts) or rear their pups (maternity roosts)⁠
*Foraging (feeding) areas: mature forests with open understories (layer of small trees & shrubs that grow under the tree canopy but above the forest floor), stream corridors, and forest clearings where bats hunt for insects⁠
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Making a Difference 📋⁠
Each site assessment resulted in a completed SHAFT (Suitable Habitat Assessment Form for Trees) - detailed documentation that helps NYSDOT and Federal Highway Administration (FHA) make informed decisions about project impacts, environmental protections, and necessary protections.⁠
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Results? ✅️⁠
Infrastructure improvements that move forward responsibly, with wildlife conservation and protection (in this case, specifically, bat conservation) at the forefront helps us all ⁠live by design.
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Photo of the bat, courtesy of Jomegat - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6709641⁠
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The rest of the photos, courtesy of Bob & Rachele. ⁠