FHWA/FRA/FTA Section 7 Range-wide Consultation for Indiana Bat, Northern Long-eared Bat, and Tricolored Bat
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) have standardized their approach to assessing impacts to Indiana bats, northern long-eared bats, and tricolored bats from construction and expansion projects; then avoiding, minimizing, and mitigating those impacts. The first product of the standardization effort was a range-wide informal and formal consultation and conservation strategy for Indiana bats and northern long-eared bats in June of 2016. Since then, an assisted determination Key (Dkey) in was developed for submitting projects using the programmatic. Most recently the programmatic was updated in December 2024 to include a programmatic conference for TCB among other updates.
The Indiana bat, an endangered species listed since 1966, is found across most of the eastern half of the United States. The northern long-eared bat, reclassified as an endangered species in 2022, is found across much of the eastern and north central United States. The tricolored bat, a proposed endangered species since 2022, is found across much of the eastern and central United States. (a)(1) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) requires federal agencies to use their authorities to conserve listed species. Section 7(a)(2) of the ESA requires federal agencies to consult on any action that may affect a listed species. Learn more about interagency consultation under section 7 of the ESA.
Consultation and mitigation approaches for impacts to Indiana bats from federal projects vary greatly across the species' range. These variations and changes have caused uncertainty, conflict, delays, and large workloads for the Service, FHWA, FRA, FTA, and state Departments of Transportation (DOTs).
The northern long-eared and tricolored bat鈥檚 range overlaps with the Indiana bat but are even more extensive. They are included in the consultation to prevent issues similar to those experienced with the Indiana bat.
The landscape-level conservation strategy developed via this effort encompasses the ranges of these bat species and provides transparency and predictability to FHWA, FRA, FTA, and state DOTs through proactive planning. Information provided by this consultation and conservation strategy will allow these agencies to strategically avoid projects in high impact or high-risk areas for the bats. For projects that cannot avoid impacts, project proponents will have the information they need to design projects to minimize impacts, thus avoiding the need to revise projects later in their development. For large-scale projects or projects with greater impacts, priority conservation areas will be identified to offset and minimize the impacts of the take. This approach will increase the consistency of both project design and review, reduce consultation process timeframes, reduce delays, and contribute meaningfully to conservation of these species.
In summary, the FHWA and the Service, with the FRA and FTA, first completed a range-wide informal and formal consultation and conservation strategy for Indiana bats and northern long-eared bats in June of 2016. The programmatic consultation was most recently updated in December 2024 and includes a programmatic conference for TCB among other updates. The
programmatic consultation/conference helps expedite the consultation process related to transportation projects and provide a consistent approach to conservation for the bats. The strategy includes:
- proactive conservation measures that are most suited and needed for the conservation of the species,
- priority areas for mitigation measures,
- standardized effects analyses with avoidance and minimization measures associated with project types,
- an informal programmatic consultation/conference covering all states; and
- a limited formal programmatic consultation/conference.
