EAST LANSING, Mich. — The northern long-eared bat is on the verge of becoming an endangered species, and this will have implications for landowners in Michigan and elsewhere in the bat’s range.

Beginning May 4, the bat will be listed as a “threatened” species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), a powerful federal law that provides special protections for animals that deemed threatened or endangered. The culprit is white-nose syndrome (WNS), a disease affecting this and other species of bats.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is hoping special protections for bats will help mitigate the devastating effects of WNS on bat populations. WNS is a fungal infection characterized by white growths on a bat’s skin.

The fungus occurs in winter when the bat is hibernating. Often the disease wakes the bat, disrupting its hibernation and causing it to fly around to look for insects, which aren’t available in winter. The bat can die from this, as well as from other problems the fungus causes. WNS can also damage a bat’s wings, impairing its ability to fly during the summer.

Although bats are considered beneficial to farmers because they consume large numbers of insects, special protections for the bats under the ESA are also worrying to farmers and loggers. Laura Campbell, agricultural ecology manager at the Michigan Farm Bureau, said activities such as spraying pesticides aren’t specifically exempted from ESA rules, but as long as people are not spraying the bats or their roosts, there should not be any restrictions or setbacks they need to follow.

“Basically, farmers just need to take their usual precautions to prevent over-spray and drift,” she said.

If a forest operator is doing a project at a Michigan township on a special FWS list, they should go to the local FWS office to get specific location maps. FWS hopes people who see bat activity in and out of specific locations will report it so the agency can investigate and update its maps as needed. There may be such lists in other states where the northern long-earned bats reside.

“If you’re not sure if it’s a known hibernacula, we’re asking people to call us to find out,” explained Georgia Parham, a spokeswoman for the FWS. “We do not require private citizens to look for roost trees.”

Parham noted the range of this bat encompasses the entire state, even though it’s likely most hibernacula – places such as mines and caves where the bat hibernates – are in the Upper Peninsula. Roost trees, however, could be anywhere. These are trees the bats live in during the summer.

The FWS has a fact sheet for Michigan called Northern Long-eared Bat Special Rule, Michigan Known Hibernacula and Roost Tree Locations. This contains a list of counties, and townships within the counties, where there are known northern long-eared bat hibernacula.

For loggers, the fact sheet says the FWS can “confirm for you if there are any known hibernacula or roost trees within a quarter-mile of your project. If your project is within a quarter-mile of a known hibernacula or roost, we will work with you to determine whether a permit pursuant to the Endangered Species Act may be applicable.”

A link to this list is available online at www.fws.gov/midwest/eastlansing

Anyone wanting to comment on the issue may do so until July 1. Go online at www.regulations.gov and search under the docket label FWS-R5-ES-2011-0024.