New Update on Time of Year Restrictions for Northern Long-Eared Bat

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is preparing to publish in the Federal Register a notice that will delay the effective date of the up listing from January 30 to March 31, 2023. 

The notice was filed in the Federal Register Thursday, January 26, but can be found here.

The notice from USFWS states that they are aware of 3,095 projects nationally for which they will need to provide an ITS when the November 30, 2022, reclassification rule goes into effect and the section 4(d) rule is nullified. These projects include road and bridge construction and maintenance projects across the 37-state range and forest management activities intended to prevent wildfires and sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests, which also provide important northern long-eared bat habitat. This number does not include new projects or ongoing projects, of the 24,480 previously mentioned, that may be impacted by a lack of the conservation tools and guidance documents that are currently under development. Without these final tools in place, many new and existing projects that require consultation will likely experience project delays.

Subsequently the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is delaying the effective date of a final rule they published on November 30, 2022, reclassifying the northern long-eared bat as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). This delay is necessary to finalize conservation tools and guidance documents to avoid confusion and disruption with members of the public who would be regulated by the rule and Federal agencies in the implementation of section 7 of the Act.

The effective date of the final rule amending 50 CFR part 17, published November 30, 2022, at 87 FR 73488, is delayed until March 31, 2023.

VDOT held a virtual meeting with industry to discuss the latest information on how they were approaching the original January 30 deadline. The department is committed to minimizing the disruption but the fact that the tools provided by USFWS for managing the new restrictions have not been made available has made it difficult to determine the correct actions for ongoing and developing projects. This delay in the effective date will provide additional time for questions to be answered.