On October 23, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) released the final Northern Long-eared Bat and Tricolored Bat Voluntary Environmental Review Process for Development Projects Version 1.0, which replaced the draft version issued in April. This Consultation Guidance provides a step-wise approach for determining if a development project will likely impact the federally endangered northern long-eared bat (NLEB) and/or the proposed endangered tricolored bat (TCB).
Major changes to the IPaC project review process include:
- Incorporation of “Consultation Ranges” (see map below) for each species into one combined species range-wide Determination Key (DKey)
- Modifications to the tree removal acreage thresholds and associated forest cover percentages within the vicinity of the project that trigger “may affect” species determinations (applicable only to projects removing less than 100 acres of trees and also able to adapt to seasonal timing restrictions)
The Consultation Guidance also provides Minimum Conservation Measures (MCM) that project owners can adopt to reduce impacts on protected bat species based on the project’s location within applicable ranges.
Note: For projects located within the Indiana bat range (as shown above), more rigorous species conservation measures will likely be required for that species than are required within the consultation ranges for NLEB and TCB. Also, this Guidance is subject to more or less stringent guidelines that a state USFWS field office or the state agency regulators may place on these species in their state. Finally, this Consultation Guidance does not apply to wind projects; however, wind guidance documents for NLEB and TCB were also published yesterday.
Questions? Please do not hesitate to reach out to CEC’s professional bat biologists to help guide you through the USFWS consultation process for your projects.
Ryan Slack, Principal
rslack@cecinc.com
317.613.4505
Jackie Rockey, Senior Project Manager
jrockey@cecinc.com
412.249.3140
JD Wilhide, Project Manager II
jwilhide@cecinc.com
615.577.9343
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