Nature Conservancy calls for thougtful wind development
Mark Tercek © Mark Godfrey/TNC Oklahoma’s wind energy potential seems nearly limitless.
But it might not be worth its benefit if the industry doesn’t avoid harming wildlife, persons attending the Oklahoma Wind Energy Conference in Oklahoma City heard this week.
The keynote speaker at Wednesday’s luncheon at the event was Mark Tercek, the chief executive officer at the Nature Conservancy.
The conservancy, he told them, has made its living throughout the decades by identifying and preserving areas of habitat, either by buying those areas and putting them into a trust or through working with federal, state and local officials to get the areas preserved by government.
Now, he said, the group realizes that global warming is a huge threat to its efforts.
“Over the years, we had bought and managed and conserved, believing it that would protect habitat forever. But if temperatures change significantly, habitat locations will change too, and that will make some of our preserves uninhabitable for the very species we were seeking to protect. So, climate change is heavy on the threat board for the Nature Conservancy,” he said.
The group realized something else, too: Energy change, while necessary, poses new threats to wildlife habitats.
Wind energy, biofuels and even solar energy are the new threats to wildlife habitats, Tercek said.
And that change is coming, like it or not.
High oil prices are pushing it forward, as are policies requiring fuel makers to use ever-increasing amounts of biofuels and for utilities to get more and more of their power from renewable sources.
“Now, let me be clear,” Tercek said. “Our nation needs to move rapidly to take advantage of renewable energy sources. We need to do it to protect our economy from the high price of imported fuel. We need to do to protect habitats around the world from global warming caused by our fossil fuel emissions, and green energy can also be a very important source of new jobs to rebuild our economy.
“The Nature Conservancy, therefore, supports public policies that encourage investment in renewable energy sources. But accelerating energy change will have a big impact on the landscapes that we share with nature. So, we must make these changes thoughtfully. We ought to be informed by the best possible science and understand the impacts on wildlife that these new energy sources will create.”
Concerns here
The Prairie Chicken
Thanks to T. Boone Pickens, Tercek said everybody in
Because of the important need for affordable power, grass lands extending from
To the Nature Conservancy, though, turbine development threatens the habitat of ground nesting birds like the prairie chicken.
It’s goal is to work with wind project developers to create conservation easements protecting certain parts of the high plains from turbines that appear to scare them away, Tercek said.
During his speech, he highlighted one such project done in Cloud County,
“These ground nesting birds avoid areas where wind turbines — in fact, any tall structures — are located when they are nesting, or raising their broods,” Tercek said. “The best science we have seen suggests the impact may extend as far away as a mile from each turbine. A large wind farm, with long rows of turbines, may eliminate habitat for ground nesting birds over a very considerable area.
“We are not even entirely sure why ground nesting birds avoid wind turbines and other vertical structures. Lots of science is being focused here, and it is likely the case that because the birds perceive the tower as a roost for raptors, and they have evolved over eons to avoid areas where predators may be located. It may also be the movement of the blades, the shadows cast by the blades, or the noise, or a combination of these factors that cause such large areas to be abandoned.
“The lesser prairie chicken population has already declined by more than 95 percent as the result of other threats to its habitat. The significant impact on nesting activity caused rapid development of wind energy could result in the listing of this bird as a threatened or endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — an outcome all of us would like to avoid.”
And by protecting parts of the land for prairie chickens, that would help other species that live on the land, too, he added.
But Tercek said it is important that programs be set up to compensate land owners to agree to put their land into conservation areas, rather than develop it for wind energy.
“I’m not here to tell you this job will be easy. The prairie chicken requires relatively large blocks of unfragmented habitat, on the order of 25,000 acres.”
But, he added, the concept of a conservation easement is a serious one that developers should consider.
“They keep working lands working, while providing the land owners with payments or tax deductions that support conservation activities.”
Most importantly to Tercek, he said, was the need for his group to partner with wind energy developers and landowners to develop a critical energy resource needed by the nation while still protecting the habitats needed by plants and animals to survive.
“We expect wind energy to play a very important role in protecting our planet from global warming. And we look forward to working with state and federal regulators and working with you as our partners on the ground to protect the plants and animals in high-priority prairie habitats that will be a new host to this new energy industry,” he said.
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Comments
There is no such thing as the perfect green energy source. Especially when you look at the life-cycle of the energy…from production to disposal, what are the environmental impacts?
We need a sensible balance of coal, natural gas, nuclear, before we can add in significant percentages of renewables to replace any of the three.
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I think you just need to worry about enforcing our ‘hands off’ public lands such as our parks instead of furthering gas and oil merchants. There are already eagles and raccoons coming into town to feed after all the housing frenzy this precipatated this exodus. You didn’t worry about that. If you think I’m cynical, I would have to agree.