15.5 - Develop a national strategy for wind farm siting that will protect the grassland/shrubland steppe and associated wildlife

Mitch Butler, Consultant at Natural Resource Results, provided information for the analysis of this action.

The USFWS has published voluntary Land-Based Wind Energy Guidelines that minimizes impacts to wildlife and habitat.

The Western Governors' Association Regional Transmission Expansion Planning takes important steps toward identifying the Western Renewable Energy Zones. These areas are located throughout the Western Interconnection. They feature the potential for large-scale development of renewable resources in areas with low environmental impacts. The stakeholders will continue to work toward refining Western Renewable Energy Zones by implementing additional screens that balance the benefits of renewable energy development with the need to protect wildlife and crucial habitat.

Three DOI bureaus, the Fish and Wildlife Service, Geological Survey, and National Park Service, have recently recommended that research related to wind energy development is high priority in the Upper Midwest.

A joint partnership between the USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) and Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center (NOROCK) was formed to address wind energy impacts on birds with the goal of developing a three-dimensional model to assess wind energy impacts to crane populations at Horicon National Wildlife Refuge (NWR).

In 2010 the partnership secured additional funds through a USGS/BRD Alternative Energy Request proposal. The long-term goal of the program is to develop, validate and implement a scalable landscape (or waterscape) two- and three-dimensional decision support tool that managers can use to assess potential turbine encounter risk and habitat avoidance of birds in areas being considered for wind development.