BENTONVILLE -- The city will pay to help protect bats in return for clearing nearly three dozen acres for a new interchange at Interstate 49.
The City Council voted 8-0 to authorize the city to buy $334,931 worth of "bat mitigation credits" from the Conservation Fund with street bond money at its meeting Oct. 22. The fund is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Arlington, Va.
The purchase is for 32.1 acres of trees the city will remove for its planned Northeast J Street interchange project, according to materials in the meeting packet.
Dennis Birge, city transportation director, said via email Thursday the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service required the exchange. It's his understanding this was due to the habitat the city will remove; the money will help replace that habitat elsewhere.
"If we didn't purchase the credits, we would not receive our environmental clearance, and the project would be halted until the funds were provided," he said.
MITIGATION
The project will clear 32.1 acres of trees and convert about 12.4 acres of potentially suitable herbaceous habitat to transportation use, according to a letter from Chris Davidson of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to the Arkansas Department of Transportation included in the City Council's Oct. 22 meeting packet.
Davidson wrote the service identified the gray bat, Indiana bat, northern long-eared bat, Ozark big-eared bat and tricolored bat among the species potentially occurring in the project's boundaries.
The city of Bentonville committed to contribute $334,931 to the Range-wide Indiana Bat and Northern Long-Eared Bat In-Lieu Fee Program for the removal of suitable summer foraging habitat for these species.
Clint Miller, vice president and central Midwest regional director for the Conservation Fund, said in an email his organization is the program sponsor. It provides an option for mitigating impacts infrastructure projects have that can't be avoided or minimized.
Miller explained project developers can make a payment to the program the Conservation Fund can use to protect bat habitat through the purchase of land or conservation easements. The Conservation Fund determines the cost of the bat mitigation credits based on the anticipated expense, though it doesn't play a role in determining how much mitigation a project requires.
Money paid as a result of the Northeast J Street interchange project will be used to protect bat habitat in Arkansas, he said.
Blake Sasse, nongame mammal/furbearer program leader for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said via email loss of habitat is one of the primary reasons many species of bats have become endangered. Human disturbance in caves and a fungal disease called white-nose syndrome have proven the most dangerous threats for these bats, and the loss of forested habitat where some of them roost in the summer or may look for insects to eat can make it more difficult for their populations to recover.
"All of these endangered bats hibernate in caves in the winter months, but during the summer the Indiana bat, northern long-eared bat and tricolored bat live in trees, sometimes underneath loose bark or a cavity in the trunk or, in the case of the tricolored bat, in a clump of leaves on the end of the tree branch," he said.
"All of them look for insects to eat while flying through forests. All bats in Arkansas eat insects, and each of them is thought to eat up to a few thousand insects every night."
The Game and Fish Commission currently lists five of the state's 16 species of bats as endangered, Sasse said.
INTERCHANGE
The Northeast J Street interchange is one of the infrastructure projects that will be facilitated by a $266 million bond issue Bentonville voters approved in April 2021, according to a website dedicated to the issue.
The project will build an interchange on Interstate 49 and extend Northeast J Street northward from Tiger Boulevard across the interstate via a new bridge for about 1.1 miles, the website states. The proposed Northeast J Street will be a two-lane boulevard from Tiger Boulevard to another new bridge over Shewmaker Creek, then four lanes with a raised center median to the interstate.
The project will provide access from I-49 directly to Northeast J Street, a major north-south arterial street throughout the city, according to the website.
"This will result in a more direct route from I-49 to major attractions such as Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Scott Family Amazeum and the downtown districts," the website states.
Birge said the city has been working on the project for about one-and-a-half years in collaboration with the Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration. He estimated the project will likely end up costing $40-60 million, though the Department of Transportation has partnered with the city to pay $12.5 million. The city has also received about $3 million in grants from the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission and will apply for more grants.
The city hopes to start construction on the project in 2026, according to Birge. He said it will take about three to five years to complete. The city won't start clearing trees until the project is awarded a bid and a contractor is secured and only during months specified by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
"That timeframe is set based on the hibernation pattern of the bats in the habitat," he said.
Traffic passes Friday under the N.E. J Street bridge overlooking Interstate 49 in Bentonville. The Bentonville City Council voted 8-0 to authorize the city to enter into an agreement with the Conservation Fund for the purchase of $334,931.40 worth of "bat mitigation credits" to help the city mitigate the effect of removing 32.1 acres of bat foraging habitat for its N.E. J Street Interchange project. Visit nwaonline.com/photo for today's photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo)
A cyclist rides past Friday on the N.E. J Street bridge overlooking Interstate 49 in Bentonville. The Bentonville City Council voted 8-0 to authorize the city to enter into an agreement with the Conservation Fund for the purchase of $334,931.40 worth of "bat mitigation credits" to help the city mitigate the effect of removing 32.1 acres of bat foraging habitat for its N.E. J Street Interchange project. Visit nwaonline.com/photo for today's photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo)
None
Species
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service identified the following endangered, threatened, proposed and candidate species as potentially occurring in the boundaries of the N.E. J Street Interchange project:
Gray bat
Indiana bat
Northern long-eared bat
Ozark big-eared bat
Tricolored bat
Eastern black rail
Piping plover
Red knot
Alligator snapping turtle
Ozark cavefish
Neosho mucket
Monarch butterfly
Missouri bladderpod
Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service