We studied use of highway structures by bats in the Billings, Montana area during 2003 and 2004. We found evidence of bat use at 78 of 130 highway structures examined during summer 2003 in Carbon, Stillwater, and Yellowstone counties; 66 structures were used apparently exclusively for night roosting, and 12 bridges were day roosts. Use of highway structures was widespread throughout the study area and among the state highway system categories (Interstate: 73.2%, Primary: 47.2%, Secondary: 57.1%, Local/State Maintained: 60.0%). Day roosts were found in all highway system categories, but relatively more were in the Local/State Maintained category; maternity colonies were in all but the Interstate category. Bat species identified at day roosts included Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus), Hoary Bat (Lasiurus cinereus), Little Brown Myotis (Myotis lucifugus), and Western Small-footed Myotis (M. ciliolabrum), none of which is a state Animal Species of Concern; use of a bridge for day-roosting by the Hoary Bat is apparently the first documented case for this species. Day roosts occupied in 2003 and 2004 included maternity colonies of Big Brown Bat (2) and Little Brown Myotis (2). Use of bridges for roosting, and intensity of use at night roosts, were generally unrelated to the landscape within 3 km (1.86 miles) of the structure. Only mean percent of forest cover was significantly greater around day roost structures, but substantial overlap among unused, night roost, and day roost categories indicated that this pattern was a trend and not the major influence on structure use by bats. All day roosts were found within 8 km (5 miles) of riparian corridors. Bats used 75.9% of concrete structures, 37.5% of steel structures, and 31.6% of wooden ones. Day roosts were found in concrete or wood structures, none in steel; three maternity colonies were in wood bridges, one in a concrete bridge. Slab bridges were the least preferred concrete spans because they provided few if any protected sites for roosting bats on the underside of the deck. Night roosting bats perched on the exposed vertical surfaces of girders of concrete and steel bridges. Day roosting sites in concrete bridges included accessible expansion joints between cast-in-place and T-beam bridge sections, the longitudinal slots on the underdeck of parallel box-beam structures, and the space between two abutting bridge lanes. Day roosts in wood bridges included the narrow space between parallel girders, and the spaces between wood supports under the deck where railing posts were anchored. Of the 12 day-roosts found in 2003, nine, including all maternity colonies, were occupied on at least one visit in 2004. Maternity colonies were occupied from early June (possibly late May) into September, but dispersal from them had begun by late August.

Museum of Natural History) verified our tentative SOC and SOl slug identifications in 2005. Ryan Killackey conducted some of the surveys in 2006 and added many important new records. We thank them all. v Introduction Methods Results and Discussion Overview Species Accounts Conclu sions and Recommendations Literature Cited

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The Hoary Bat (Lasiurus cinereus) is a migratory species with the widest distribution of all New World bats. It is a solitary species that roosts during the day and night primarily among tree foliage. During a survey of 130 highway structures (bridges and culverts) in south central Montana for evidence of use by bats, we discovered a female Hoary Bat with young in mid July 2003 using a wooden bridge as a day roost. This is the first report of Hoary Bats using a bridge as roosting habitat.

Range maps for Pygmy Shrew (Sorex hoyi) show a large hiatus over much of the northern Great Plains between the Rocky Mountains and eastern North Dakota. We report a new record of the Pygmy Shrew in northeastern Montana, review previous records for the state and adjacent regions bordering Montana to the north and east, and suggest that the range boundary in the northern Great Plains be redrawn farther south to include all of Montana north of the Missouri River. This is consistent with the known range of the Pygmy Shrew in eastern North Dakota and South Dakota, where the species has been documented only north and east of the Missouri River, although records are still lacking from north of the Missouri River in northwestern North Dakota and adjacent regions of Canada. Pygmy Shrews will probably be found at additional localities in prairie regions of Canada adjacent to Montana, most likely in association with prairie pothole wetlands, river bottom riparian vegetation, and hardwood draws.

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Fred Samson (USFS) recognized the need to address invertebrates in the Forest planning process, appreciating the extremely limited information available for management decisionmaking, and promoted the project through the USFS Regional Inventory and Monitoring (RIM) program. Henning Stabins (Plum Creek Timber Company) and the Amphibian Inventory Project provided us with additional records of SOC mollusk species that helped fill significant gaps in distributions. Bill Bosworth, zoologist with the Idaho Conservation Data Center, provided the Montana Natural Heritage Program (MTNHP) with location data on SOC species tracked in the Idaho portions of the Northern Region; the Idaho records were especially critical for the production of new distribution maps, and fleshing out distributions of rare land mollusk species that occur on both sides of the Idaho-Montana border. Bill Leonard (Olympia, WA) and Tim Pearce (Carnegie Museum of Natural History) verified our tentative SOC and SOI slug identifications. Matthew Gates assisted with field surveys. Coburn Currier (MTNHP) assisted on some surveys and formatted and printed this report. We thank them all.