Habitat-Based Wind-Wildlife Risk Tool

United States Department of Energy

Pandion is developing a GIS-based tool that will characterize risk for bird and bat species that are potentially susceptible to collisions and habitat displacement at wind farms. The tool will incorporate behavioral attributes that contribute to exposure to wind turbines and transmission lines in addition to species-specific habitat use patterns and spatiotemporal distribution data.

This habitat-based tool will be developed using the Upper Great Plains Region (UGPR), a region of high potential for wind development, as a demonstration of its use, but can be applied to wind project decision-making for birds and bats in other regions and subregions of the U.S. as well.

The tool will reduce the uncertainty that presently exists in predicting the impacts to birds and bats from wind farms based on habitat associations. It has the following applications:

• Regional and statewide planning.
• Assessing potential impacts from wind projects as part of an environmental assessment (EA), environmental impact assessment (EIS), or programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS).
• Identifying geographic areas in need of additional research.

The tool will include a web-based interface that allows users to locate risky habitats on aerial photos. The final tool, risk map models, and other associated products are expected to be available to the public in 2011.

Pandion Team

Greg Forcey, PhD
Jim Newman, PhD
Christian Newman, MS
Caleb Gordon, PhD

Period of Performance

2009 to 2011

Location

Upper Great Plains Region of the U.S.

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