Status of Populations of the Endangered Gray Bat in the Western Portion of its Range

Forty-eight Myotis grisescens (gray bat) maternity colonies in Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma were monitored from 1978 to 2002 as recommended in the US Fish and Wildlife Service recovery plan for this endangered species. Seventy-nine percent of colonies were stable or increasing across 3 subpopulations in this portion of the species' range, and 9 of 14 (64%) actions required by the recovery plan in this region were entirely or partially completed. This study indicates that the dramatic decline in gray bat populations that led to its listing as endangered in 1976 may have halted and that gray bat populations appear to be recovering in the western portion of its range.