Healing the Land

By Fiona Tapp

Landscapes across the American West are increasingly susceptible to severe wildfires, which pose a significant threat to the habitat of many wildlife species, including bats. The Aldo Leopold Wilderness within the Gila National Forest has been particularly affected by these fires, including the massive Black Fire in 2022 that scorched 325,000 acres, devastating critical riparian zones that provide essential water and foraging resources for bats.

The human-caused Black Fire was the second-largest wildfire in New Mexico history. It burned so hot that it stripped vegetation off the landscape. A severe monsoon season followed and exacerbated the problem.

“The watershed couldn’t assimilate that amount of water anymore because the forest wasn’t there, which eliminated a lot of good habitat for bats, fish, and other wildlife,” says Bat Conservation International (BCI) Restoration Team Lead John Moeny.

BCI’s Habitat Protection and Restoration Program has intensified its efforts to safeguard and restore bat habitat in these areas, supported by a five-year agreement with the Gila National Forest. These projects include reseeding the burned landscape and restoring watersheds.

Motorized equipment is forbidden in the remote project site due to its status as designated Wilderness, so BCI is using a traditional method to access the site and transport equipment and supplies: horses and mules.

Mornings start at sunrise with breakfast at camp before the crew hikes up the canyon for an 8 a.m. safety briefing and review of the day’s work plan, which could include cutting and planting willows, moving rocks, or building structures in the stream.

“We do what’s called process-based restoration,” Moeny says. “It essentially attempts to mimic what would have been the stream process pre-fire or pre-disturbance. So, for instance, we often mimic what beavers would have done on the landscape.”

Scientists have recently begun looking into the relationship between beavers and bats. Beavers’ dams create pooled bodies of water that provide vital sources of drinking water for bats. They also help raise the water table, which greatly benefits riparian vegetation, which is the most important bat foraging habitat in the southwest.

After eight to 10 hours of work, the team returns to camp. Despite the challenging work, Moeny says the project is incredibly rewarding. “It’s feel-good work for sure. We see the tangible benefits of our work,” Moeny says.

Those benefits include noticeable regrowth of willows and new pooled areas providing habitat for beavers, bats, fish, and other wildlife. Moeny says this will benefit an entire ecosystem.

“We’re doing it for bats, but it’s a holistic idea that if you do a project that is good for bats, it’s going to bring a lot of benefits for other organisms, wildlife, water quality, and the overall watershed condition,” Moeny says.