Transcript Wind Power in Western North Carolina

Wind Power in Western North
Carolina
Potential Avian Impacts
What Do We Know?
Birds are killed at wind
power sites
 The impacts on local and
total populations can be
significant or insignificant
 Bird usage and risk vary
among sites
 Bird usage and risk may vary
within a site

Raptors are high risk
species at some sites
 Nocturnal migrants may
be a high risk group at
some sites
 Avoidance of areas with
high bird use is the only
way to reduce avian
mortality

Source: PNAWPPM, 2001
Potential Impacts

Direct Bird Mortality

Turbine Strikes
 Electrocution
 Other Structures
Short-term Displacement
 Habitat Changes
 Activity disruption
 Increased usage


Meteorological towers,
buildings, transmission lines
Local Usage Effects


Population Effects
Local Populations
 Total Populations

How Much Mortality?

National estimates of mortality
range from approximately 1.8
to 2.2 bird deaths per turbine
per year or about 30,000 birds
killed annually in the US
(Erickson et al, 2001)

Local estimates from the TVA
sites may be four to five times
higher than the national
average
(TVA, 2002)
How Much Mortality?
Compared to other forms of
bird mortality:
Tower kills
4-50 million
Vehicle kills
60-80 million
Window strikes
98-980 million
Transmission line kills
10,000-174 million
Towerkills.com (12/10/02)
(Erickson et al, 2001)
NC Tower Locations
What Do We Need to Know?
How many birds use
potential sites?
 What kinds of birds use
potential sites?
 How is usage related to
time of year?
 How is usage related to
time of day?

What are the species of
special concern at each
site?
 Will development have
impacts on local or total
populations?
 Can we address these
impacts to mitigate them
on the front end?

What Birds Use the Mountains?
Mountains host wide
variety (225+ species)
 Mountains are primary
migration route for
passerines and raptors
 23 State of North Carolina
listed Species of Special
Concern are found in the
mountains

When Do Birds Use the Mountains?
Highest diversity is during
migration (spring and fall)
 160 breeding species in
summer
 60-75 wintering species
 Maybe two times as many
individual fall migrants as
in spring

What about Migration?







Most passerines migrate at night
Peaks in April-May and September October for passerines
Raptors peak in late September and
continue into November
Topographical use of the mountains by
migrants poorly understood
Highly weather dependent
Wind drift may cause morning corrective
flights
Migrants may become disoriented in
foggy conditions and are attracted to
lights on towers, turbines, or buildings
CUROL, 2002
Avian Conservation Initiatives
 The
Partners in Flight Plan
 The
National Audubon Society Important Birds
Areas (IBA) Program
 The
Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition Plan
The Partners in Flight Plan
Partners in Flight founded
in 1990 as cooperative
project of federal, state,
private, and academic
partners
 Involves a wide variety of
biologists, professional
planners and managers
 Coordination of research,
reporting, & management


Southern Blue Ridge Plan
Identifies 63 priority
species
 Recommends monitoring or
management action with a
habitat-based approach
 Emphasizes migratory bird
conservation
 Landscape scale
conservation

National Audubon Society
Important Bird Areas Program
www.ncaudubon.org
The SAFC Plan
The Southern Appalachian
Forest Coalition “Return
the Great Forest” Plan
 Identifies 9 macro sites for
conservation priority
 Attempts to use biological
inventory, land ownership
patterns, and connectivity
to prioritize within macro
areas

Utilizing These Plans

These three plans contain many areas of common focus and effort.
Species, habitats, and geographic areas of emphasis are often
shared. An example of this overlap is the region wide, multiorganizational effort to preserve the spruce/fir forest and the species
of birds and organisms associated with this community. Any effort
for wind development in these areas is likely to be met with stiff
opposition from a number of conservation, environmental, and
management organizations. All of the spruce/fir areas of the state
are likely to be areas of high wind resource.
Spruce Fir Habitats





From Peine 1999 p. 435
Second most threatened
ecosystem in the US
Limited to seven areas of
western North Carolina
No more than 70,000 acres in
the southern Blue Ridge, most
in the Great Smoky Mountains
National Park
80% in late successional stages
Currently in decline
regionwide
Recommendations





Continue to consider avian
impacts in the planning process
Utilize national standards for
site surveys and impact studies
Provide for thorough site study
prior to construction
Participate on the national
level with the Avian
Subcommittee of the NWCC
Utilize our local resources (i.e.
CUROL, TVA, Audubon)



Provide for long-term
monitoring programs
Work with the three major bird
conservation plans for
opportunities and to avoid
costly litigation and delay
Sell to the public the relatively
low direct impacts versus
regional benefits of “greener”
energy
For More Information
 The
information in this presentation is a summary
of a detailed literature review done for
Appalachian State University’s Department of
Technology. A full text version of the review is
available on line at www.ncwindpower.org