Bat gets federal protection in way that S.C. forestry group can accept

New federal standards protecting a small bat apparently won’t hamper timber harvesting in South Carolina significantly, forestry industry officials said Wednesday.

The plan seems “so much more manageable,” said Cam Crawford, president of the S.C. Forestry Association. “There may be some issues here and there, but we can address those.”

Officials at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service settled on listing the northern long-eared bat as threatened, a step short of saying it faces extinction as first proposed.

That allows flexibility in dealing with conditions that vary locally, officials said.

The numbers of the bat are dwindling with the outbreak of a disease industry officials say is less common in Upstate mountains where the species is usually found.

Forestry groups are concerned about the protection standards because the bats roost in trees in summer.

Saving bats is important since they consume several insects that annoy people, officials say.

This story was originally published April 1, 2015 at 6:24 PM with the headline "Bat gets federal protection in way that S.C. forestry group can accept."