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Bat Habitat on Your Property…  Cedar Shingles/Shakes Nine Bat Species

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Bat Habitat on Your Property…  Cedar Shingles/Shakes Nine Bat Species Bats in New Jersey Here are some things you can do to A few types of artificial roosts that we have built are: New Jersey is home to improve bat habitat on your property… Cedar shingles/shakes nine bat species. From Sheet metal wrap spring to fall, many of Asphalt paper wrap these bats find homes in Selective tree girdling: Girdling creates standing dead trees whose breaking, flaking bark provides dead or dying trees, where they space for bats to roost under. Studies have found that roost snugly under sheets of the average dbh (diameter at breast height) of Indiana loose, flaking bark. Male bats bat maternity roost trees is 45 cm (about 18”), so trees generally roost alone. of approximately that size should be targeted. Females, though, often Girdling can be done by chain-sawing two horizontal form large maternity cuts – about 6” wide, 1” or deeper, and 2-4” apart – colonies, sharing the best around the entire tree available roosts for giving trunk, or cutting one birth and raising their groove and applying an young (called “pups”). herbicide. Materials list (pictured above from left to right): cedar Endangered Indiana bats Remember that bat shingles or shakes, asphalt paper, a hammer, 2.5” aluminum (Myotis sodalis) have been Girdling techniques, roosts need sunlight, nails*, scissors, sledgehammer, gloves, sheet metal or found to use a variety of tree Ohio State University flashing, and vinyl window screening (not pictured). You’ll so pick trees that get also need a ladder tall enough to reach 15-20 feet high. species (elms, oaks, maples, sycamores, etc). Living strong afternoon sun (S/SW-facing is best). Do not shagbark hickories are also great bat habitat, with girdle shagbark hickories – they’re valuable already! * It is important to use aluminum nails. In the event that your “enhanced” tree is later cut down, aluminum nails are their already-“shaggy” bark. easily cut by a chainsaw, preventing the user from injury. Removal of competing trees: Ideal roost locations are near a wetland or water body Where appropriate, felling smaller trees can open a that provides a reliable insect prey base and a place to Cedar shingles/shakes: This shagbark hickory- potential roost tree to more drink. Maternity roosts should also receive around inspired concept employs the same technique you’d sunlight, making it more eight hours of sunlight each day to keep the use to put siding on a shed or shingles on a roof. attractive to maternity colonies. developing bat pups warm. Alternatively, girdling multiple trees in a "patch" can reduce You can use shakes, shingles, or other thin Making your land canopy shading without felling materials to create this flaking-bark effect more inviting to bats trees. Bats are some of the most beneficial animals to Start with the bottom layer (12+ feet off the ground), people. All of New Jersey's bats are insectivores. If you have no good candidate nailing the shingles onto the tree trunk all the way Each night, bats eat more than half their body weight trees on your property for around (or at least halfway in insects like mosquitoes, moths, flies, and beetles. girdling, or are reluctant to kill around, on the sunny side). Bug-eating bats save people billions of dollars trees, you can create some Leave about a ½” space annually on pest controls like toxic pesticides. In valuable bat habitat artificially. between each piece. turn, guano (bat poo) is a terrific garden fertilizer! Overlap another layer above Artificial roost enhancements: Dead trees don’t the first, staggering the Bat awareness and conservation are stand forever, and their flaking bark is even more shingles to create a mosaic of temporary. For instant and longer-lasting bat roosts, more critical now than ever before overhangs and pockets for just mimic the loose bark that bats prefer...wrap tree roosting. Bats face many threats, including loss of forests and trunks with sheet metal and other materials, nail up roost trees, disturbance to winter dens, and outright shingles, or install standard bat boxes. As for those Continue adding layers until persecution. In 2006, White-nose Syndrome (WNS) old window shutters stashed away in the attic…why your enhancement spans 3-4 began taking its toll as well. WNS causes hibernating not give them a new purpose by tacking them onto a feet vertically. bats to awaken too often, and thus to burn through tree? All the bats need are quiet, dry, tight little the energy needed to survive winter. The bats often spaces to squeeze into, where they’re safe from the Tip: Hammer a nail through starve or freeze. Nearly 100% of hibernating bats have elements and where other animals can’t reach them. each shingle prior to died in the caves and mines hit by WNS. We can help climbing the ladder; it makes NJ bats by providing ample habitat for their recovery You can do the same to dead trees whose bark has attaching the shingles to the (also helping the few species that WNS doesn’t affect). dropped off, kind of like “putting the bark back up.” tree much easier. 1 2 3 Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey │ PO Box 420, Mailstop 501-03E, Trenton, NJ 08625 │ 609.984.6012 │ www.ConserveWildlifeNJ.org Sheet metal wrap: Use Asphalt paper wrap: This is the quickest and gloves when handling sheet easiest roost to construct. Asphalt metal! In our example we paper is also easily grippable and used a roll of 20”-tall metal dark colored for good heat roof flashing and cut it into 3 retention. Simply cut the paper strips (regular scissors worked with sheers into a large enough Thank well), each long enough to strip (or strips) to wrap around wrap around the tree that we your tree and to cover about 3-4 selected. Wrapping the metal vertical feet of the trunk. You!! all the way around the tree will allow the bats to shift in Add extra interior nooks and response to sun and temps… crevices by first nailing pieces of metal in full sun can get hot! wood around the trunk where the wrap will cover. Feel free to contact our staff for further assistance… Fold the cut edges over and Email: [email protected] pound them flat to prevent Wrap the asphalt paper around Or call: 908-782-4614 x 104 injury to the bats. Before the tree trunk and nail it on in attaching the sheets to the much the same manner as the We would like to thank Crystal Springs Golf Resort in tree, lay them on the ground sheet metal wrap. Parts of the Hamburg, NJ, for participating in this project and for and use a sledgehammer to wrap will looser, some snugger allowing us to experiment with their trees! pound grooves (placing rocks …that’s ok! Really loose sections underneeth the metal during this process helps with can be folded or gathered and General forest management the desired effect). These irregularities will provide nailed – this actually creates nice recommendations for bats: movement corridors and roosting cavities for the bats. little roosting fissures. From the US Fish and Wildlife Service, NJ Field Office Note: Leave the top edge of the top sheet flat so that it We also added a layer of textured 1. Maintain at least 60% canopy closure after timber harvest wraps fairly tightly to the tree trunk, preventing rain sheet metal flashing 1 foot below within forested stands. from getting inside. All the other sheets should be the asphalt wrap to discourage 2. Retain standing snags, except where they pose a serious pounded to allow bats to move laterally and vertically. predators like raccoons & snakes human safety hazard due to their location near a building, Ideally with two people on different ladders, raise the while offering the bats another yard, road, or power line. A live tree with less than 10% first (bottom) sheet into position around the tree roosting option. canopy should be considered a snag. Snags with no trunk – again, about 12+ feet high up. Nail one side to remaining bark and no visible cracks, splits, or hollows the tree to free your hands, and pull the other side Be creative! may be felled, as well as any snags leaning more than 45º around until it’s tight…you only want to leave about 1” from vertical. When possible, delay removal of hazard trees until bats are hibernating (October 1 to March 31). openings at the top and bottom for bats to access. Try more than one technique Nail the second side. Add just a few nails around the on your property. Experiment 3. Do not harvest or manipulate shagbark hickory trees (Carya ovata) unless there are more than 16 shagbark diameter of the tree for support. with your own designs and hickories per acre. If present, maintain at least 16 live Every foot or so around materials. shagbark hickory greater than 11" dbh per acre. the tree, nail a piece of 4. Maintain at least 16 live, high-value roost trees per acre on screening so it overhangs Maybe even use some old scraps or renovation project average with at least 3 live trees >20" dbh and 6 live trees the sheet metal. This leftovers. Just keep in mind: >11" dbh. Other retained trees should be among the largest or highest roost value trees present within the serves as a grippable Height placement on tree: ~12+ feet stand. “landing strip” for bats, Vertical extent of enhancements: ~3-4 feet 5. Do not harvest trees or conduct timber stand since the sheet metal itself Location: Should have good sun exposure improvement within 300 feet of a stream bank or is slippery.
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