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It could end our way of life as we know it.
That’s what State Senator Tom Casperson says of Wednesday’s decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to put the northern long-eared bat on the federal threatened species list.
Populations of the bats have drastically declined due to white-nose syndrome, which has killed an estimated 5.5 million bats in the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest and Canada.
Casperson says the decision could be “our spotted owl.”
The designation of that bird as an endangered species devastated the logging industry out west.\
The Escanaba Republican says only after the jobs were gone, was it learned that logging posed no danger to the bird.
Casperson worries that logging operations in the U.P. will be hurt by the new rules connected to the bat’s new status. One of the rules prohibits many activities within a quarter-mile of a northern long-eared bat’s habitat, in June and July.
Congressman Dan Benishek is concerned about the federal decision as well. But he says he is encouraged that the public will have an additional opportunity to comment on the issue now through July first.
