The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Wednesday that it is protecting the northern long-eared bat as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, a move that could add more delays to the proposed Glades Reservoir project. The bat, whose habitat extends into Hall County, is in danger of becoming extinct because of white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that has killed many bat populations. “Bats are a critical component of our nation’s ecology and economy, maintaining a fragile insect predator-prey balance; we lose them at our peril,” USFWS Director Dan Ashe said in a statement.