The wind-farm industry is putting threatened woodland caribou herds at increased risk by seeking to put their projects on the same windswept alpine ridges that represent critical wintering habitat, a provincial caribou expert warns.
Dale Seip, a wildlife ecologist with the Ministry of Forests and Range in Prince George, told about 250 people at the conference of the Association of Professional Biologists of B.C., ending today, that the situation jeopardizes the province's caribou recovery efforts.
"Wind-power development on the windswept ridges creates a significant risk to these caribou," he said.
"Remember, these animals are threatened. They're not doing well. They're stable at best; many are declining. Under a recovery strategy, we're supposed to be making things better. We're supposed to be improving conditions for these animals so herds will be able to recover. It's difficult to imagine how these types of industrial developments are somehow going to make things better for those caribou."
Seip said there are forested ridges to the east of the Rocky Mountains in northeastern B.C. that can accommodate wind farms without harming critical caribou wintering range and the lichens they consume...
...Seip said wind farms pose a threat to caribou on several levels: the direct loss of critical habitat due to turbine infrastructure along with road building and transmission lines; increased access by humans and wolves; and the potential for caribou to avoid the wind farms.
Research from Alberta's oilpatch shows caribou will generally stay 250 metres from seismic lines, 250 to 500 metres from roads and one kilo-metre from a well site. In Newfoundland, caribou stayed four kilometres from a mine.
"The same could potentially happen with caribou on these windswept mountain ridges," he warned. "We don't know how caribou are going to feel if they have such a major industrial development placed on top of their core winter range."
He noted wolves rarely go into caribou alpine habitat in winter due to the rigours of navigating steep slopes with deep snow. "If there are roads and trails ... we may lose this separation that allows wolves to coexist with caribou."
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Caribou+threatened+wind+farms+expert+says/3008130/story.html">Ecologist warns building turbines in wintering habitat would jeopardize efforts to allow recovery of B.C. herds
Have a nice evening. May your local wind turbines not keep you up all night.
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