Wind Power in Western North Carolina

1
Wind Power in Western North Carolina

• Potential Avian Impacts

2
What Do We Know?

• 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

• 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

3
Potential Impacts

• Direct Bird Mortality
• Turbine Strikes
• Electrocution
• Other Structures
• Meteorological towers, buildings, transmission
  lines

• Local Usage Effects
• Short-term Displacement
• Habitat Changes
• Activity disruption
• Increased usage
• Population Effects
• Local Populations
• Total Populations

4
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)

5
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
• (Erickson et al, 2001)

NC Tower Locations
Towerkills.com (12/10/02)
6
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?

7
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

8
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

9
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
10
Avian Conservation Initiatives

• The Partners in Flight Plan
• The National Audubon Society Important Birds
  Areas (IBA) Program
• The Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition Plan

11
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

12
National Audubon Society Important Bird Areas
Program
www.ncaudubon.org
13
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

14
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,
  multi-organizational 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.

15
Spruce Fir Habitats

• 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

From Peine
1999 p. 435
16
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

17
For More Information

• The information in this presentation is a summary
  of a detailed literature review done for
  Appalachian State Universitys Department of
  Technology. A full text version of the review is
  available on line at www.ncwindpower.org