Help Bats!
Learn how you can help save bats and their habitats
Be Bat Friendly
Once, ancient forests covered most of eastern North America and provided plenty of habitat for bats. With the arrival of Europeans, those forests rapidly fell to large-scale logging and agriculture. Some colonial bat species adapted to the new shapes on the landscape and made use of barns and outbuildings, which were warm, dry, and fairly safe from predators. As agriculture has given way to residential development, bats are making use of the only habitat left - our houses and the infrastructure of suburban life, like storefronts, culverts and bridges. Bats share our habitat and are a natural part of our world, and now they need our help more than ever. Use this section to become bat friendly or to help others learn to share the world with bats.
Bat Habitat
Even if you never need to exclude a building colony or find a bat in need of rescue, you can still help bats by providing and supporting good habitat. Consider building and installing bat boxes. But do your homework first. Many commercially available bat boxes are completely unsuitable for bats! Also consider what will happen to the colony if you move or after your project is installed. Bat boxes need maintenance and monitoring, so please make arrangements to ensure the habitat remains after you move on.
Bat Conservation & Management and Bat Conservation International have excellent information on selecting and installing bat boxes.
Bat Friendly Green Space Certification
Do you have a healthy, happy green space at home or school?
Certify your backyard, garden, schoolyard habitat, condo common space, etc., as bat friendly! Certification gets you a yard sign featuring E. Wright's art to display, pictured on the right, a letter of appreciation, and Lucy's gratitude. We'll review your application. If your space does not qualify, we will give you easy ways make it more bat friendly. If your space cannot become bat friendly, we will refund your processing fee.
Get certified by filling out our application and paying a $10 processing fee. That's it!
Bats & Agriculture:
Partners in Growth
Contact us to learn more about becoming a certified Bat Friendly Grower.
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