Bat condo in Creston
As of early spring 2024, a team from Wildlife Conservation Society Canada had created 106 BradenBark structures, 47 wildlife trees and a couple of condos—all for the benefit of bats.
Since 2021, the society’s project—supported by the Trust and taking place in a wide variety of locations in the Basin thanks to many project partners—has been giving bats places to roost, encouraging their abundance, diversity and resiliency. Twelve species call the Basin home, such as the Yuma myotis and endangered little brown myotis, and fulfill important functions in ecosystems like wetlands and forests, including consuming a significant number of insects.
“Wildlife trees” feature chainsaw cuts that simulate lightning strikes, which loosen bark or create other cavities for bat-roosting habitat. BrandenBark is an artificial bark that wraps around young trees or poles and mimics loose bark. And bat condos are going up in areas where bats have been entering a building to roost, but the building is being torn down or closed off.
It’s a multi-pronged, novel approach. So far, says Heather Gates, who is leading the project, “Clearly it’s successful and it’s working for the bats.”
