Habitat Assessment Clears a Commercial Development for Winter Tree Clearing

The Challenge

A regional commercial real estate developer needed to clear approximately 25 acres of forested land to expand a business park in northeastern Pennsylvania. Because the project area falls within the range of three sensitive bat species — the federally endangered Indiana bat and northern long-eared bat, plus the tricolored bat — tree clearing carried the risk of impacting protected bat habitat, and with it the risk of regulatory delay and Endangered Species Act liability.

The developer needed a clear, defensible answer to two questions: did the site contain winter bat habitat that could constrain the project, and could tree clearing proceed on the construction schedule without triggering a full active-season survey that would push work back by months?

What Volant Did

Volant EcoServices conducted a Summer Roost and Winter Hibernacula Habitat Suitability Assessment of the roughly 25-acre project area, made up of three forested parcels. The work paired a desktop review with a thorough field effort:

• Desktop analysis of aerial imagery, USGS topographic mapping, bedrock geology, mining history, and LiDAR-derived elevation data. Volant used a digital elevation model to generate terrain visualizations that flag features associated with winter bat habitat — closed depressions, sinkholes, fractures, and other anomalies that can indicate underground voids or portals — and used those results to target field reconnaissance efficiently.
• A three-day pedestrian field survey, conducted by two federally permitted biologists. Working in transects roughly 50 feet apart, they walked the entire project area, documenting forest composition and structure, evaluating summer roosting suitability, and searching for any caves, mine portals, or other potential hibernacula features.

Both biologists hold active USFWS Section 10(a)(1)(A) recovery permits for endangered bats and are PGC-permitted Qualified Bat Surveyors — a credential set that gives the resulting data the standing it needs for agency review.

The Findings

The assessment produced a clear, actionable result. The forested parcels did contain suitable summer roosting habitat for the target species — mature trees, snags with exfoliating bark, and the structural features bats use seasonally. But the field survey and LiDAR analysis found no caves, mine portals, sinkholes, rock features, or other potential winter hibernacula within the project area, and no history of mining on site. Based on the absence of those features and the site's uniform topography, the project area was determined not to provide suitable winter habitat for hibernating bats.

The Outcome

Because no winter hibernacula were present, the path forward was straightforward: tree clearing conducted during the winter inactive season — while bats are not present on site — would minimize potential effects to summer-roosting bats and make impacts to wintering bats unlikely. The developer received the documented findings needed to move ahead with clearing on the project's timeline, without waiting for a full active-season survey.

It's a clear example of how the right assessment, conducted at the right time of year, can keep a development project compliant and on schedule — and of why engaging a bat biologist early, before clearing, is one of the most effective ways to protect both.

Planning a development or land-clearing project that may affect bat habitat? Contact Volant EcoServices to talk through your site and timeline with a federally permitted bat biologist.

Related: Bat Surveys for Land Development · Potential Bat Hibernaculum Surveys · Bat Surveys