Celebrating Bat Week

This is Bat Week, which is appropriate with Halloween on Wednesday.  The U.S. Forest Service uses this final week in October to promote how beneficial the mammals are to our everyday lives.  The USFS' Kim Winter said many of us, while we may not see bats often, don't realize how the flying rodents impact our livest and the foods we eat.

"Through pollination of plants, mostly tropical plants, and certain desert cacti, and also through seed dispersal of a number of tropical plants."

But Winter says the main benefit of bats in North America are in controlling insects and other pests.

"Keeping down mosquito populations is one small piece of what bats do, they also keep down night time insects that might otherwise be chomping away at our agricultural crops and resulting in an increase in pesticides."

It is estimated that there are at least 950 bat species that call North America home.

If you have a story idea for the Washington Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail gvaagen@cherrycreekradio.com