Balancing renewable energy and the need to preserve biologically significant landscapes

1. Balancing renewable energy and the need to preserve biologically significant landscapes Photo courtesy of www.michaelforsberg.com

2. Definitely, we need to figure out how to reduce atmospheric CO2

3. But not all strategies to reduce carbon emissions are environmental benign Even though emission free, construction of hydro dams have been the number one contributor of extirpations and extinctions in North America. Hydro example

4. But unfettered wind development could result in significant fragmentation of native landscapes Wind power is a technology that may help us reduce CO2 emissions We must consider both costs (impacts) & benefits

5. The beauty of wind power is that ecological impacts can be minimized through siting Iowa corn field Kansas wheat field

6. Summary of biodiversity impacts from wind power Direct Effects • Mortality or injury to birds and bats from collisions with rotors, towers, other infrastructure • Habitat fragmentation of intact native landscapes (turbine pads, roads, powerlines) Indirect Effects • Avoidance of otherwise suitable habitat by grassland birds, particularly prairie grouse • Interference with metapopulation dynamics Photo courtesy of www.michaelforsberg.com

7. Total height 350 to 400’ Total height 300’ Rotor diameter 250’ Rotor diameter 155” 1.5 to 1.8 MW Turbine Beaumont 660 KW Turbine Montezuma 500 KW Turbine Cutting edge technology in the mid-90s Farm Windmill

8. Avian collisions are the most publicized wildlife-related concern regarding wind turbines As a result, the vast majority of wildlife research concerning wind energy has focused on bird collision deaths

9. Seriousness of the collision threat… While collision deaths are a real concern for bats and birds at ill-sited wind facilities, habitat fragmentation is thought to be a greater threat to wildlife in the Great Plains region.

10. Fragmentation

11. Elk River I: 20¾ miles of new roads across the prairie

13. Of particular concern in the Great Plains are prairie grouse The life cycles of prairie grouse require large expanses of unfragmented, ecologically healthy rangeland

14. By protecting/maintaining habitat necessary to sustain greater prairie-chickens, the habitat needs of most other prairie species in the area will also be protected.

15. Robel et al. -- Avoidance behavior of lesser prairie-chickens in SW Kansas (mean avoidance buffers based on 90% avoidance by 187 nesting hens) 580 ft from pump jacks 2,500 ft from either side of improved roads 95 ft from either side of 2-track ranch trails

16. 1 mile radius = ~2000 ac. 1.5 MW turbine

17. In addition to habitat fragmentation & abandonment • Large arrays of wind turbines may inhibit dispersal, thus affecting metapopulation dynamics • The cumulative effect of creating multiple areas avoided by species that rely on unfragmented prairie habitat could have significant consequences

18. Economically viable wind resources and Nature Conservancy portfolio sites -- areas ascertained as ecologically significant on a globally scale -- reveal remarkable congruence

19. - 8,274,888 acres fall into wind class 5 (excellent) - 2,499,035 acres fall in wind class 6 (outstanding) - 1,061,289 acres fall in wind class 7 (superb). Overlap of economically viable wind resources and Nature Conservancy portfolio sites in the Great Plains

20. Kansas has 8.3 million acres of already altered (tilled) land with excellent wind resources (wind class of 5 or higher)!

21. Can we steer wind power to less sensitive/controversial areas? • Yes! • But to do so, we must: • 1) understand what’s currently driving the siting of wind power • 2) develop effective strategies to appropriately site wind power development

22. Another approach is a certification process to encourage developers to do the right thing

23. Green certification: a non-regulatory approach to steer wind power away from sensitive habitats Certified Green How it might work in Kansas… to keep wind development off scarce, native prairie habitats

24. Certifying appropriately sited wind projects as ‘green’ may provide a basis for guiding wind power development away from ecologically significant habitats.

25. Certifying appropriately sited wind projects as ‘green’ may provide a basis for guiding wind power development away from ecologically significant habitats. • Such an approach could make wind projects located in less sensitive areas more competitive, give public utilities sound rationale for rejecting poorly sited projects, and enable wind developers to promote appropriately sited projects as being genuinely green.

27. Again, we support strategies that will effectively reduce greenhouse emissions But proper siting is critical to reduce the risk of losing certain natural systems and natural areas … to prevent trading one environmental problem for another