At 04:31 PM 11/30/2003 -0600, O. William Bruins wrote: >Has anyone seen or heard of any reports about the reactions by prairie >chickens or grouse to the presence of wind turbines, especially in >Minnesota? Are there any published papers about the effects of wind >turbines on birds in Minnesota? > >A friend at my local utility is curious about this. > >Thanks in advance, >Bill > > >William Bruins >[email protected] >Rochester, MN in Olmsted County, SE MN > >"The real world is not user friendly." -- Kelvin Throop
To my knowledge, there are no studies as yet about "reactions by prairie chickens or grouse to the presence of wind turbines," and particularly not in Minnesota. However, there is a major body of material collected on prairie grouse by Robert Robel which documents their sensitivity to, and avoidance of, a wide range of human structures (roads, power lines, oil pumpjacks, houses, etc.) and which is thought by prairie grouse enthusiasts to indicate that they will give wind turbines and their service roads a similarly wide berth. Again to my knowledge, we do not know for sure that this is so, although it does seem to be a reasonable hypothesis based on Robel's work. There is at least one major published work on "the effects of wind turbines on birds in Minnesota," located at http://www.eqb.state.mn.us/pdf/Wind/NSP99RPT.pdf . It's the final report of a 4-year monitoring study at Buffalo Ridge and is 8 MB in length. Here is a relevant section from the summary: "The area of reduced use occurred primarily in close proximity (i.e., < 100 m) to turbines; however, the area of reduced use was larger for certain avian groups during some seasons. On a large-scale basis (i.e., within the entire WRA [Wind Resource Area--TG]), reduced use by birds associated with windpower development appears to be relatively minor and would not likely have any population consequences on a regional level. A positive effect of reduced avian use around turbines would be reduced potential for collision mortality. Lower avian use where turbines are present may be due to avoidance of turbine noise, maintenance activities, and less available habitat due to the presence of maintenance roads and cleared gravel pads surrounding turbines. Another potential factor in the lowered avian use noted at turbine plots is that turbine noise may reduce observer detection rates of birds, especially those that observers detected by sound only. A quick overview of non-collision impacts of wind farms (including Buffalo Ridge) is online at http://www.nationalwind.org/events/wildlife/2003/presentations/strickland.pdf . Other wind/avian studies available on the Web: Avian Perspectives Paper: <http://www.nationalwind.org/pubs/avian_collisions.pdf>http://www.nationalwind.org/pubs/avian_collisions.pdf BPA [Bonneville Power Administration] Avian and Bat Meta-Analysis: <http://www.bpa.gov/Power/pgc/wind/Avian_and_Bat_Study_12-2002.pdf>http://www.bpa.gov/Power/pgc/wind/Avian_and_Bat_Study_12-2002.pdf WEST Wind/Avian Studies Page: <http://www.west-inc.com/wind_reports.php>http://www.west-inc.com/wind_reports.php Make sure that your friend is up to speed on the impacts of global warming from fossil fuels on avian species: American Bird Conservancy "Birdwatcher's Guide to Global Warming": http://www.abcbirds.org/climatechange/birdwatchersguide.pdf Regards, Tom Gray American Wind Energy Association

