Growing hickories (Carya spp.) for roost trees: A Method to Support Conservation of Declining Bat Populations

• Growing hickories (Carya spp.) for roost trees

Bats (Vespertilionidae and Phyllostomidae) are a critically important component of North American ecosystems. These insectivorous mammals provide largely unrecognized ecosystem services to agriculture and forest health and sustain bat-dependent native plant populations. The decline of North American bat populations reflects the recent emergence of the fungal disease white nose syndrome (WNS); susceptibility to pollutants; and rapid changes occurring in the North American landscape, such as energy development and associated forest fragmentation and loss. Hickories (Carya L. spp. [Juglandaceae]) are an important roost tree for bats in the eastern US, and we describe how to propagate them in bareroot nurseries.