Bat surveys on USFS Northern Region 1 lands in Montana

The distribution and status of bats in Montana remain poorly documented on US Forest Service Northern Region lands. The Northern Region recognized the need for additional documentation of bats on Forest Service lands and initiated bat surveys in 2005 across the Region on selected National Forest (NF) Ranger Districts (RD). In Montana, these included Bozeman RD-Gallatin NF, Swan Lake RD-Flathead NF, Townsend RD-Helena NF, Libby RD-Kootenai NF, and Judith RD-Lewis & Clark NF. In 2006, the second year of the project, increased number of surveyors in the field resulted in greater survey effort with both mist-net and acoustic sampling in the following RDs, Butte and Dillon RD, Beaverhead-Deerlodge NF, Sula and West Fork RD, Bitterroot NF, Ashland, Beartooth, and Sioux RD , Custer NF, Tally Lake RD-Flathead NF, Helena, Lincoln, and Townsend RD-Helena NF, Fortine and Rexford RD-Kootenai NF, Mussellshell RD, Lewis and Clark NF, and Superior RD, Lolo NF. Following a modified protocol based on the Oregon Bat Grid system, crews surveyed non-randomly chosen suitable habitats within randomly chosen 10 km2 sample units in each RD for a total of 75 sites surveyed on Northern Region lands in Monta