Western Long-eared Bat
Southcentral and Interior Alaska
It is easy to participate in the Alaska Bat Monitoring Program. We know very little about where bats occur in Southcentral or Interior Alaska during the summer, and no one knows what happens to them in winter. Alaska Bat Monitoring Volunteers help to document the presence and locations of bats and their habitats in preparation for future research. Visit the Alaska Bat Monitoring Program web page for more information.
Little is known about the ecology of bats in Alaska. Their distribution and abundance during the summer months is poorly understood and few summer maternity roosts have been documented. Even less is known about where our bats go in the winter. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the entire genus Myotis as a conservation concern in 2003 and a new disease, White Nose Syndrome, is decimating bat populations in eastern North America. Because bats occur in low densities in Alaska, documenting their summer distribution, roosting habitat, migration habits, and winter hibernacula is a challenging task. Through increased awareness of the value of bats in the wild and your reported bat sightings, we can slowly begin to understand and conserve bats in Alaska. It is important that we continue to learn more about bats and bat ecology in Southeast Alaska so we can conserve resources critical to their survival and prevent population declines.
- Report Observations
Help researchers document the distribution of bats in Southeast Alaska, collect bat carcasses for disease surveillance, locate roosts for monitoring, and learn more about bat use of bat houses in the region.
- Roost Monitoring
Help researchers document maternity colony size and timing of reproduction by volunteering to count bats as they emerge from their roost.
- Acoustic Monitoring
Help researchers study habitat relationships and relative abundance of bats by conducting an acoustic monitoring survey with a bat detector.