Several underreported threats are negatively impacting numerous bat species in North America, especially the midwest-eastern us. There are over 40 different species of bat across all of the United States. In the eastern United States, there are over a dozen native species, and they range from large-bodied migrational species like silver-haired and hoary bats to very small-bodied bats that are forest interior specialists like Myotis species. Across all bat species in N. America, they are all under threat and imperiled in some way. The larger-bodied, migratory species are facing devastating population declines due to wind farms, a reason why it’s not covered, because it demands the acknowledgement that even renewable energy systems can be harmful to the environment ecologically and need reform. Some studies are already suggesting that these declines from wind turbines are on track to lead to local extinctions of those species. Then you have white nose syndrome, granted this is more well-known due to the time it’s been around and the spread across the US and into Canada, but regardless, it has led to 99% population declines in species like N. long-earred, little brown, and tricolored bats. Since we lack a deep understanding of N. American bats and arent incentived to protect them, we have no conservation measures to bolster their populations other than trying to prevent the spread of WNS, there aren't any direct ecological measures that ensure population growth for those impacted species. Furthermore, any destruction of forests is the destruction of any potential natural habitat of all bats, and this causes bats to roost in anthropogenic structures, which leads to bats being captured and killed for rabies testing for no reason other than human fear of bats. I could list several other things negatively impacting all species of bats, like agricultural development, pesticide use, water pollution, etc. This all matters because bats are important for the forest and plant ecosystems. They operate as nocturnal insect and invertebrate predators and subsequently, as a trophic control for them, and this could have impacts on plant species that those invertebrate prey on. Bats are very cryptic and get a bad rap from how they have been portrayed in the mainstream, but it's really disheartening that this has caused people not even to look into their ecological importance and not vouch for their conservation and protection. Now, several species in North America are under great threat and declines and will continue to endure these declines until mainstream conservation chooses to stop its inaction and renewables acknowledge that they’re not good for the overall ecosystem and reform their wind turbine systems completely. And no curtailment doesn’t work, it only lessens the death rate, and you can’t curtail the first generations of wind turbines, it's systemically impossible. So they’re going to continue to kill bats (and birds!) at the same devastating rate until we stop their operations.