Micron is going to break ground next Friday in Clay, kicking off the first phase of construction, clearing trees. It’s a critical yet criticized first step. That’s because that clearcutting will impact one of nature’s most misunderstood creatures: bats.
Work will soon begin to clear hundreds of acres of trees from the White Pine Commerce Park in Clay, a job that has to be done before the end of March. That’s when protected species of Indiana, Northern Long-Eared and Tri-Colored bats leave their hibernacula and return to their usual roosts for their nesting season.
But what happens when those roosts are gone? New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Daniel Rosenblatt says they’ll have to look elsewhere…