Taxonomy Update for the Western/Desert Red Bat
The western red bat/desert red bat, formerly Lasiurus blossevillii, is now Lasiurus frantzii. The wetern red bat (L. frantzii) occurs in western North America and Central America while the southern red bat (L. blossevillii) is restricted to South America. The western red bat closely resembles the eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis) that also occurs in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Stay tuned for updates in the NABat database and metadata templates reflecting this taxonomy change. To learn more about the western red bat/desert red bat, click here.
Offshore Wind Industry Progression
Consistent with the requirements of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) concerning offshore conventional and renewable energy leasing, the Department of the Interior recently published the final 2024–2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program (Program) with the fewest oil and gas lease sales in history. The Department published the Proposed Final Program and corresponding Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement in September. The IRA prohibits the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) from issuing a lease for offshore wind development unless the agency has offered at least 60 million acres for oil and gas leasing on the OCS in the previous year.
BOEM Seeking Public Comment
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is seeking public comment on its:
1) proposed offshore wind lease sale for the Central Atlantic and its draft Environmental Assessment for site assessment and characterization activities (due 12 February 2024)
2) intent to prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for the offshore wind leases areas in central and northern California (due 20 February 2024)
3) draft PEIS for offshore wind leases areas in the New York Bight (due 26 February)
Call for proposals and abstracts - State of the Science
The 2024 State of the Science Workshop on Offshore Wind Energy, Wildlife, and Fisheries is now accepting proposals for symposia and side meetings and abstracts for oral and poster presentations through 26 January 2024. The workshop will take place 16-19 July 2024 in Long Island, New York, U.S.
February CoP Call – the NABat R Package (nabatr)
Join us Wednesday, February 21st at 11:30 am (Mountain Time) for the NABat Community of Practice Call. February’s call will feature the NABat R package (nabatr) which can be used to pull, reformat, and visualize data in the North American Bat Monitoring Database. Our data analysts and super users will be sharing guidance on how to access and utilize package functions, updates to the package, and plans for package expansion.
To access the meeting, click here.
If you want to be added to the distribution list for NABat CoP calls, please reach out to Andrea Schuhmann.
Conferences
Jan 30 - 31: Northwest Offshore Wind Conference, Portland, OR, USA
Feb 14 - 16: Southeastern Bat Diversity Network Annual Meeting, Hilton Head Island, SC, USA
Feb 19 - 22: Gulf of Mexico Conference, Tampa, FL, USA
Mar 11 - 13: American Clean Power Siting and Permitting Conference, Colorado Springs, CO, USA
Mar 25 - 29: North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Mar 25 - 29: National Military Fish and Wildlife Association Annual Meeting, Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Apr 2 - 4: Midwest Bat Working Group Annual Meeting, Cincinnati, OH, USA
Check out the NABat Events page for a complete list of training webinars, meeting links, and all other upcoming events!
Field Biologist
The Bernard Research Lab is recruiting field biologist to lead a team to capture and study bats in the northern Black Hills of South Dakota on BLM parcels. The field biologist should be permitted or able to be permitted to capture northern long-eared bats (M. septentrionalis). This research aims to answer a variety of questions that will aid in roost conservation and overall management for remnant bat populations in the region.
Wildlife Biologist
Terracon's Illinois/Wisconsin Regional Environmental Team is seeking an experienced professional who wants to join us and continue building a team focused on natural resources in Environmental Planning—we are looking for candidates with Threatened and Endangered Species, NEPA, and constraints analysis expertise. You will work with an established environmental team that provides a wide range of services for federal, local, private, and state projects through both local and national accounts.You will help our team to work together to prepare winning proposals and deliver proper scoping of services, and pricing to be profitable. As an experienced professional, you will have the opportunity to contribute and mentor staff during daily operations of a growing team including safety, project management, quality of services and work product, timely delivery of services and deliverables, and overall quality and client experience.
Bat Acoustic Ecologist
The Biodiversity Research Institute is seeking a full-time, mid-level ecologist to work with increasing needs focused on wildlife acoustics data that is collected in association with projects related to offshore wind on the Atlantic Coast and biodiversity surveys in Africa and the US. The Bat Acoustic Ecologist will work in BRI's new Wildlife Remote Acoustic and Imagery Lab. The position is primarily office-based and will work with program directors in developing and implementing their acoustic monitoring projects, including in offshore wind, and terrestrial projects in the US and overseas. Applicants with additional relevant skills (e.g., experience in Africa and/or with non-bat acoustics, data management, etc.) will receive top consideration.
Applications should be sent to jobs@briloon.org or mailed to the Biodiversity Resource Institute, Attn: Human Resources (MPFC), 276 Canco Rd., Portland, ME 04103
Post Doctoral Research Fellow
Great Hollow is currently accepting applications for a two-year, open-topic post-doctoral fellowship based at our preserve in New Fairfield, Connecticut, with free on-site housing included with the position. The Fellow will: (1) design and conduct independent field research at Great Hollow Nature Preserve and/or other appropriate study sites in the region, (2) support other research projects of Great Hollow’s, (3) coordinate and mentor Great Hollow’s summer interns, and (4) contribute to the general day-to-day operation of Great Hollow as a member of our small staff, including, but not limited to, occasional assistance with outreach and stewardship. The ideal candidate will be an ecologist whose research is field-based, integrative, innovative, has a conservation application, and will complement Great Hollow’s current areas of study. Candidates may work in any discipline that is relevant to the biodiversity and ecological communities of the northeastern U.S. The fellowship is primarily intended for early-career scientists who have completed their PhD within the past 5 years, but post-doctoral researchers at any career stage are eligible to apply. PhD candidates who expect to defend during the spring of 2024, have a strong publication record, and have an appropriate level of research experience will also be considered.
Bat Identifiers
Sanders Environmental is looking to hire bat identifiers for the upcoming summer season, or full time depending on your skill set. At minimum, applicants need to have a federal bat permit or be on a federal bat permit where you can be moved to our permit. The majority of the summer portion of the job is mist netting, with some telemetry, on proposed energy projects. If you have acoustic skills, those can also be of use, but may be a secondary activity. Sanders Environmental focuses on doing high quality sampling and supports our bat identifiers with good gear and mentoring for those new to our team.
Email Chris Sanders (chris@batgate.com) to inquire about this position further.
Bat Biologist
EnviroScience is looking to hire a full time, bat ecologist to support our growing Natural Resources Practice Area. The position will preferably be based out of one of our offices, however, there is a possibility for this to be a remote position based on location and candidate qualifications. Salary will vary based on education, knowledge, and relevant professional experience.
February's Featured Resource: Converting Well-Known Binary (WKB) Locations to GeoJSON (Containing Lat/Long)
This month’s featured resource is the recently developed NABat R script to convert locational data in WKB format to GeoJSON. The NABat data request output and/or the output of your exported project data may contain fields for ‘grts_geometry’ and ‘location_geometry’. These fields are output in the Well-Known Binary (WKB) format to allow locational data for points, lines, or polygons to all be stored within the same field within the “data.csv” file. WKB format will appear as a string of numbers and letters.
For example: 0101000020E31000030BAFA23F34E15BD00B08AD872F0B4550...
*Note that string length varies significantly depending on the type of location data it represents (e.g., polygon data results in longer string length vs point data with shorter string length).
These instructions will guide the user through how to decode their WKB-formatted data into GeoJSON, resulting in surveys’ associated Latitude/Longitude info becoming clearly represented within the updated ‘data_edit.csv’ file.
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Update to NABat User Accounts and Affiliated Organizations:
NABat recently discontinued nondescript organization options to use as affiliate organizations (e.g., "Other", "New Organization", "Contact NABat to have your organization added", etc.). Continuing forward, all NABat user accounts and projects should appropriately reflect the organization with which they are affiliated. Please log into the NABat Partner Portal and click on your account name above the login/logout button in the upper right-hand corner. This will generate a pop-up window; under the "Organization" dropdown you may see if your organization is already registered in the NABat Partner Portal. If it is, please associate your user account with the organization, then check/update your NABat projects accordingly.
If your organization is not listed, please complete this short webform and the NABat team will register it in the NABat Partner Portal.
Also note that there is now an option to have your logo added to the NABat Partner's page to improve visibility of your organization. If your organization is already registered with NABat and wishes to have its logo added in the Partner Portal, please fill out the statement below and email it to Bethany Straw (bstraw@usgs.gov) and Andrea Schuhmann (aschuhmann@usgs.gov). Users registering a new organization with NABat will receive logo instructions in their confirmation email.
“I affirm with this statement that I, [Enter Your Name], hold the requisite authority within [Enter Organization Name] to grant the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) permission to use the attached logo image for my organization. I grant the USGS the right to use the attached logo, globally in publications and products for the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) including the NABat Partner Portal, free of any fees. This consent is limited to non-commercial use only by USGS and sustained for the duration of the copyright.”
If you have any questions or require assistance, please feel free to self-schedule an appointment or reach out to the NABat technical outreach team for user support.
Sincerely,
The NABat Team
Still have questions? Users who need project guidance or assistance are encouraged to book an appointment or reach out to our Technical Monitoring team for consultation.