The Pennsylvania Game Commission has proposed placing three species of bat on the state's endangered species list after white-nose syndrome has almost wiped out their populations. The listing would restrict logging near hibernation areas from April to mid-November, according to an article published on the New York City-based Bloomberg News.
The restriction would make most of the state's forests off limits for a better part of the year. During those months, bats sleep under the peeling bark of dead trees during the day, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Because the bat populations have already dropped to critical levels, any additional stress due to shrinking habitats could annihilate the three species all together.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission has proposed placing three species of bat on the state's endangered species list after white-nose syndrome has almost wiped out their populations. The listing would restrict logging near hibernation areas from April to mid-November, according to an article published on the New York City-based Bloomberg News.
The restriction would make most of the state's forests off limits for a better part of the year. During those months, bats sleep under the peeling bark of dead trees during the day, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Because the bat populations have already dropped to critical levels, any additional stress due to shrinking habitats could annihilate the three species all together.
Since the disease first appeared in Pennsylvania in 2008, surveys have shown a 99 percent drop in northern long-eared bats and little brown bats and 98 percent decline in tricolored bats, according to the game commission.
Pennsylvania is the country's top producer of hardwood lumber, and in 2012 had $1.2 billion in total hardwood exports, said Will Nichols, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. Forestry companies employ 53,021 people according to state data.
While forest products companies would lose a considerable amount of supply, continued bat deaths could mean hundreds of tons of insects going uneaten. That increased bug population could cause at least $3.7 billion in agricultural losses annually in North America, according to an analysis by biologists published in Science magazine in 2011.