New wind power guidelines are for the birds

[PoliticAverse]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration offered new guidance Friday on where wind farms should be located to reduce the number of bird deaths while promoting increased use of wind power.

A bird advocacy group that lobbied for mandatory standards said the new, voluntary guidelines will do little to protect hundreds of thousands of birds killed each year by wind turbines.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the guidelines, which take effect immediately, provide a scientific basis for developers and government regulators to identify sites with low risk to wildlife while allowing for more wind energy projects on private and public lands.

Read the rest at http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_WIND_POWER_BIRDS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-03-23-15-14-54

[kristopher]

1. Collision Mortality Has No Discernible Effect on Population Trends of North American Birds

Collision Mortality Has No Discernible Effect on Population Trends of North American Birds
Todd W. Arnold1*, Robert M. Zink2 1 Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, United States of America, 2 Bell Museum and Department of
Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, United States of America

Abstract
Avian biodiversity is threatened by numerous anthropogenic factors and migratory species are especially at risk. Migrating birds frequently collide with manmade structures and such losses are believed to represent the majority of anthropogenic mortality for North American birds. However, estimates of total collision mortality range across several orders of magnitude and effects on population dynamics remain unknown. Herein, we develop a novel method to assess relative vulnerability to anthropogenic threats, which we demonstrate using 243,103 collision records from 188 species of eastern North American landbirds. After correcting mortality estimates for variation attributable to population size and geographic overlap with potential collision structures, we found that per capita vulnerability to collision with buildings and towers varied over more than four orders of magnitude among species. Species that migrate long distances or at night were much more likely to be killed by collisions than year-round residents or diurnal migrants. However, there was no correlation between relative collision mortality and long-term population trends for these same species. Thus, although millions of North American birds are killed annually by collisions with manmade structures, this source of mortality has no discernible effect on populations.


If you'd like to read the paper it is an open access document. Just google the title.

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. New Wind Farm Guidelines Split Bird Conservation Community

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2012/2012-03-23-091.html

[font face=Times,Times New Roman,Serif][font size=5]New Wind Farm Guidelines Split Bird Conservation Community [/font]

[font size=3]WASHINGTON, DC, March 23, 2012 (ENS) - The Department of the Interior today released voluntary guidelines aimed at helping wind energy project developers avoid and minimize impacts of land-based wind projects on wildlife, particularly birds.

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Some bird conservation organizations are on board with the new voluntary guidelines, but others say a mandatory permitting and inspection system would offer better protection.

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"We know America needs more renewable energy and wind power is a key player in that mix. But conservationists can't have it both ways: we can't say we need renewable energy and then say there's nowhere safe to put the wind farms," said David Yarnold, president and CEO of the National Audubon Society, which had a seat on the committee and supports the new voluntary guidelines.

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But the American Bird Conservancy calls the voluntary guidelines "unenforceable," and charged that "they will do little to protect millions of birds from the negative impacts of wind energy."

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[OKIsItJustMe]

3. Sierra Club official responds to wind turbine guidelines

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/03/23/sierra-club-wind-turbines/

[font face=Times,Times New Roman,Serif][font size=5]Sierra Club official responds to wind turbine guidelines[/font]

by Mark Steil, Minnesota Public Radio
March 23, 2012

[font size=3]WORTHINGTON. Minn. — An official with the Sierra club responded to the new voluntary guidelines to protect birds at wind power sites.

Dave Hamilton Director of Global Warming and Energy Programs at the Sierra Club, said he's willing to support the idea for now, but said his group would rather see mandatory regulations governing wind farm sites.

The proposals, released today by the U.S. Department of the Interior, call on wind farm developers to study and then take steps to protect bird species living near the turbines.

"I think in our heart of hearts we would be more comfortable with that," Hamilton said. "But we're going to move forward with this plan and watch it very closely to make sure that it accomplishes what it sets out to do."

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