Roost choice is a stronger constraint on many bats than food supply. Lasionycteris noctivagans specialises in the space beneath sloughing bark on standing dead trees, called snags, along with woodpecker cavities and crevices. Individuals switch roosts frequently, often every few days, which means a single bat needs many suitable trees within a small area rather than one perfect site.
The roost has a short life. Bark falls away, snags topple, and a cavity that was dry one summer may not be the next. Forest management that removes standing dead wood for tidiness, fuel reduction or timber value therefore reduces the roost supply even where the surrounding forest looks intact.
The species is also strongly migratory and, together with the hoary and eastern red bats, is over-represented among carcasses at wind energy facilities. Its winter behaviour is poorly documented: it appears to hibernate in trees, rock crevices and occasionally buildings across the southern range, but where the bulk of the population spends winter is not well known.