INVENTORY OF BAT COMMUNITY COMPOSITION AT VALLEY FORGE NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK

Technical Report NPS/NER/NRTR--2006/055

James A. Hart
The Nature Conservancy
Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program
208 Airport Drive
Middletown, PA 17057

September 2006
U.S. Department of the Interior
National Park Service
Northeast Region
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Summary Although the fauna of Pennsylvania has been studied extensively across much of the state it has only recently been investigated in NPS properties such as the Valley Forge National Historical Park (NHP). This study was initiated to predict and determine the bat communities within the park unit and to generate recommendations that would ensure that adequate habitat exits for these species. To that end, five sites were surveyed over the course of 10 nights for a total of 45 netnights, and resulted in the capture of 32 bats of four species. The most common species captured included the little brown (Myotis lucifugus) and big brown (Eptesicus fuscus) bats, comprising 87.5% of all bats captured and released. Three northern long-eared bats (M. septentrionalis) were captured. The occurrence of the northern long-eared bat at Valley Forge NHP may indicate that the habitat within the park supports a stable population of this species, although no known maternity colonies were found.

Recommendations for continued research include more surveys to assess use of forests by tree species such as the red (Lasiurus borealis) and hoary (L. cinereus) bats, spring and fall mist-netting for the silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans), and continued monitoring of possible maternity sites. Recommendations also include the creation of artificial roost sites for bats.

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