The wind turbine facilities within Altamont Pass has been the catalyst for much discussion and are brought up at every wind related conference, symposium, and hearing. Fortunately, it seems to be a unique situation, at least within the United States. This was one of the first facilities built, and is unfortunately sited along a major migratory corridor for several species of raptor. This coupled with older style turbines that allowed raptors to use them as perches, and an abundant prey base combined to create the highest raptor mortality rates within the US. Even with modern turbines, which are specifically designed to minimize perching opportunities for birds, this site still continues to strike large numbers of raptors (Smallwood and Karas 2009). For a comparison of raptor activity within Altamont and other proposed wind sites see: Page 15 of Hardin Wind LLC. application to the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) (link below). Barclay et al. (2007) includes a nice table for a comparing regional bird and bat morality rates throughout the US and Canada see (or Kuvlesky Jr. et al. 2007). This study compiles information from various projects. Most are recent studies adjusted for search efficiency and savaging rates, two important factors in calculating an estimated mortality rate. Though Perry’s monument, high-rises in Cleveland, and wind turbines are all tall structures, the major difference is the lighting scheme. The monument and the buildings are constantly lit, while wind turbines generally have the minimum lighting allowed by the FAA. This is important since most migratory song birds do so at night, using the stars for navigational aids. Particularly during periods of bad weather bird may mistake lights for stars and become disoriented. Lights that are lit continually have been shown to be one of the major factors contributing to the large numbers of birds found a communication towers (Gehring et al. 2009). No significant difference has been found between those turbines lit with FAA lighting and unlit turbines (as an example here are 3 post- construction studies that investigated this: Johnson et al. 2000, Kerns and Kerlinger 2004, Young et al. 2009). As far as I am aware there has been only 1 mortality event caused by lighten at a wind energy facility, and that was during an extremely foggy night and the lights were at the substation, the place where all the power is consolidated prior to being put onto the grid (Kerns and Kerlinger 2004). The Division of Wildlife (DOW) has developed monitoring protocols to assess potential impacts of proposed wind energy facilities (website listed below). While these protocols are “voluntary” the OPSB, which is responsible for permitting all wind facilities greater than 5 MW, looks to the DOW for input regarding environmental studies. To date all facilities proposed for Ohio have undertaken the survey recommendations suggested by the DOW. A federal advisory committee is in the process of drafting a similar document to be used by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Those interested in comparing the impacts of wind energy to other sources of energy production should see the report produced by Pandion systems (link below). As Jim McCormac mentioned the DOW is also conducting aerial pelagic bird surveys in an effort to collect baseline information on how migratory waterfowl use Ohio’s portion of Lake Erie related to potential offshore wind energy facilities. This information will be used to encourage the development within regions of the lake that would have a minimal impact to these species. As for bats, I guess that’s a topic for a different list-serve. Keith Lott Wind Energy Wildlife Biologist Ohio Deparment of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife Barclay, R.M.R., E.F. Baerwald, and J.C. Gruver. 2007. Variation in bat and bird fatalities at wind energy facilities: assessing the effects of rotor size and tower height. Canadian Journal of Zoology. 85: 381-387. Division of Wildlife Wind Energy site: http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/wild_resourcessubhomepage/ResearchandSurvey s/WildlifeWind/tabid/21467/Default.aspx Erickson et al. 2005 http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr191/psw_gtr191_1029- 1042_erickson.pdf Hardin Wind LLC. http://dis.puc.state.oh.us/TiffToPDf/A1001001A09G10B25034E60288.pdf Johnson, G.D., W.P. Erickson, M.D. Strickland, M.F. Shepherd, and D.A. Shepherd. 2000. Avian monitoring studies at the Buffalo Ridge, Minnesota Wind Resource Area: Results of a 4-year study. Kerns, J.J. and P. Kerlinger. 2004. A study of bird and bat collision fatalities at the Mountaineer wind energy center, Tucker County, West Virginia. Kuvlesky Jr. W.P., L.A. Brennan, M.L. Morrison, K.K. Boydston, B.M. Ballard, and F.C. Bryant. 2007. Wind energy development and wildlife conservation: Challenges and Opportunities. The Journal of Wildlife Management. 71: 2487-2498. Pandion Systems: http://www.nyserda.org/publications/Report%2009-02% 20Wildlife%20report%20-%20web.pdf Smallwood, K.S., and B. Karas. 2009 Avian and bat fatality rates at old- generation and repowered wind turbines in California. Journal of Wildlife Management. 73: 1062-1071. Young, D.P., W.P. Erickson, K. Bay, S. Nomani, and W. Tidhar. 2009. Mount Storm Wind Energy Facility, Phase 1 Post-Construction Avian and Bat Monitoring ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]