DNR offers steps to safeguard backyard bats

As the only flying mammals on Earth, bats play an extraordinary and vital role in maintaining healthy ecosystems across the globe. Beyond their unique nature, these nocturnal creatures provide irreplaceable environmental, economic, and public health benefits. Insect-eating bats act as natural pest controllers, consuming vast quantities of agricultural pests each night and saving farmers and forest owners billions of dollars annually. In Wisconsin, bat populations include eight distinct species, though four are state-threatened—including the federally endangered northern long-eared bat—and another is listed as a species of special concern.

The primary threat facing Wisconsin's hibernating bats is white-nose syndrome, a devastating fungal disease that disrupts their winter hibernation, depleting their critical energy stores before spring insect supplies arrive. Although population numbers plummeted following the disease's arrival in 2014, recent survey counts bring hope, showing encouraging signs of recovery among little brown bats at key hibernation sites. Because a handful of historic mines serve as the winter shelter for a significant portion of the nation's little brown bat population, protecting these habitats during winter is essential to keeping local insect populations in check each summer.

Every homeowner and community member can take actionable steps to safeguard backyard bats and foster safer environments. Building and mounting bat houses provides crucial shelter, while planting native vegetation creates foundational support for local food chains. Landowners can eliminate burdock plants to prevent bats from becoming dangerously entangled, avoid harmful chemical pesticides and herbicides, and keep unused buckets flipped upside down in basements or outbuildings to prevent accidental trapping.