Large ancient trees stand in shadowed relief against a grey sky. Their falling leaves rustle as if ghosts flit among the branches. The movement isn’t caused by celestial creatures but by female Indiana bats who are caring for their young.
Over the past 10 years in Western North Carolina, however, seeing one of these endangered bats would have felt like coming face to face with a ghost. But this year, these bats did return to one of the state’s protected wilderness areas.
A Not-So-Spooky Sign of Hope
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission researchers sighted 24 Indiana bats in the Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness earlier this year. The dead hemlock tree they were found roosting in acted as a maternity site for the female bats who gathered to have their babies, or pups.
Female Indiana bats form roosting colonies and gather in social groups. They use a network of older trees with exfoliating or peeling bark to shelter and raise their pups. Mother bats will move their pups from tree to tree to avoid predators and adapt to changing weather — often causing the leaves to rustle.
Why is it Good to Have These Bats Around?
While bats are not blind – just adapted more for their nocturnal life - Indiana bats rely on echolocation to hunt insects. A single bat can consume around 3,000 insects in a single night, playing a vital role in the forest ecosystem by reducing insect pests and cycling nutrients.
Does This Return Mean Indiana Bats are Back in North Carolina for Good?
Indiana bats migrate from their summer roosting sites to caves called hibernacula in the fall to survive the winter months. In the caves, they group together tightly to maintain their body temperature. Up to 300 bats can fit in one square foot of space, or a space roughly the size of a vinyl record sleeve.
So, while they might not stay in Western North Carolina long term, young females often return to the same or an adjacent site to rear their pups.
A Haven and Haunted Habitat
The Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness area, located within the Nantahala-Pisgah National Forest, contains some of the largest and most intact stands of old-growth forests remaining on the east coast. Here you can see some of the largest trees in the Southeast region. While the remoteness and towering canopy causing a dimmer light to hit the forest floor can feel spooky to some, it’s a haven for these bats.
And it is no accident these bats are recovering within protected habitat.
National Forests and wild areas are currently under attack. The threat of logging can destroy habitat and disrupt bat roosts. In fact, a coalition of conservation groups – including Defenders of Wildlife - sued the U.S. Forest Service over its Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Plan in 2025, arguing the agency violated federal law by downplaying the harmful impacts of a dramatic expansion in logging and by failing to include mandatory standards to restore important native ecosystems.
The conservation groups won the case in April of this year mitigating the risk and bats were found for the first time in a decade in August.
Additional threats to these public lands include roadbuilding, which fragments them, and the weakening of longstanding policies outlined in the Wilderness Act and the Endangered Species Act. For example, earlier this year the regulatory definition of “harm” under the ESA was rescinded in an effort to eliminate protection for listed animals’ habitats.
Climate change also poses threats. Severe flooding, extreme heat and hurricanes like Helene, which swept through the area in 2024, all dramatically alter the forest landscape.
A Ghoulish Disease
A fatal fungal disease known as white-nose syndrome has killed more than 5.7 million bats since it was first discovered in the United States in 2006. Scientists believe humans inadvertently carried fungal spores on their shoes, clothing or caving gear from Europe or Asia, where bats have evolved resistance.
White-nose syndrome has been devastating to bat populations, particularly those that overwinter in caves where the fungus thrives. Indiana bats are one of at least 10 bat species in the U.S. and Canada that are threatened by this exotic fungal disease.
Ensuring incredibly important intact habitats remain protected from logging, road building and the invasion of non-native species is one of the best solutions to this threat.
A Flight Towards the Future
Many conservationists had a grim outlook and had written off Indiana bats recovery. But they have returned regardless. And now the question is how to ensure this recovery expands and these populations rebound.
The resilience of these bats is a testament to our duty and obligation under the ESA to do whatever it takes to help recover the animals who need it most. Their return this summer underscores the value and success of protecting their habitat, which is frankly the least we can do.
And if we succeed in protecting their forest homes, then seeing Indiana bats in North Carolina may become less of a ghostly glimpse and more of a treasured moment.
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