In 2013, Gallaway Enterprises prepared a grant on behalf of Butte County for the Environmental Enhancement Mitigation Program (EEMP) to restore and enhance bat roosting habitat on the Ord Ferry Bridge. The grant was applied for after a large multi-species bat maternity roost was displaced for two (2) years due to construction on the Ord Ferry Bridge. One of the bat species that uses Ord Ferry Bridge as a maternity roost is the pallid bat, which is a species of special concern in the State of California. The EEMP grant was awarded to Butte County for the Bat Colony Restoration Project at Ord Ferry Bridge in 2014. In Late July of 2014, Gallaway Enterprises installed 19 concrete bat boxes on the sides of Ord Ferry Bridge.
In January 2016, Gallaway Enterprises went back out to the bridge to see if there were any signs of the bats using the new roosting habitat. 
High fives were exchanged after urine stains were observed under every bat box that was installed on the bridge! Bats urine is highly acidic and leaves noticeable white stains on bridge structures in the areas that they roost. Piles of bat guano (i.e. bat poop) were also observed under accessible bat boxes and bats could be heard conducting social chirps within the bat boxes. The detection of the bats roosting in the bat boxes in January was also a surprising discovery! It was well known by Gallaway Enterprises that Ord Ferry Bridge served as a maternity roost where local bats produced and raised young, now with the new bat boxes, the bridge also serves as a winter roost for bats! 
Bats in the area typically leave their maternity roost after the breeding season and migrate locally to winter roosting areas. Thanks to the new bat habitat installed on the Ord Ferry Bridge, local bat populations and sensitive bat species can find suitable roosting habitat year around.
You must be logged in to post a comment.