Comprehensive Guide to Studying Wind Energy/Wildlife Interactions

This resource document of the Wildlife Workgroup is intended as a guide to persons involved in designing, conducting, or requiring wind energy/wildlife interaction studies.

The document follows a general framework for progressing through the decision process for a proposed wind project and a guide to methods and metrics for use in the necessary studies. The guide is relevant to the study of any wildlife species, although the focus is on birds and bats.

Click to download the Guide

Note: The file is a 6MB pdf and may take time to download.

Note: The current version of the Guide was updated on November 22, 2011, with the following changes:

• In the formula at the bottom of page 41 (page 49 of the pdf), the F term was removed as this was mistakenly included in the original draft.

• There is also now a disclaimer included in the report highlighting the following: "Any specific technologies or vendors mentioned in this Guide are either included as examples or as references to work carried out using these technologies/vendors. The mention of specific technologies is not an endorsement of these over other technologies."  

Disclaimer
Any specific technologies or vendors mentioned in this Guide are either included as examples or as references to work carried out using these technologies/vendors. The mention of specific technologies is not an endorsement of these over other technologies.


Briefing
On July 13, 2011, Dale Strickland delivered a briefing on the document. To view the briefing or powerpoint, please visit the links below:
Powerpoint
Briefing Recording

Acknowledgments
Principal Authors
Dale Strickland, WEST, Inc., Cheyenne, Wyoming
Edward Arnett, Bat Conservation International, Inc., Austin, Texas
Wallace Erickson, WEST, Inc., Cheyenne, Wyoming
Douglas Johnson, U.S. Geological Survey, Saint Paul, Minnesota
Gregory Johnson, WEST, Inc., Cheyenne, Wyoming
Michael Morrison, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
Jill Shaffer, U.S. Geological Survey, Jamestown, North Dakota
William Warren-Hicks, EcoStat, Inc, Mebane, North Carolina

Internal Review Team
Wayne Walker, Wayne Walker Conservation Consulting, Round Top, Texas
Rob Manes, The Nature Conservancy, Topeka, Kansas
Michael Green, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Portland, Oregon
Tracey Librandi-Mumma, Pennsylvania Game Commission, Harrisburg Pennsylvania

Preparation of the report was funded by the Wind and Water Power Program, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. Financial support by the Department of Energy does not constitute an endorsement by the Department of Energy on the views expressed in this document, nor do the views and opinions of authors expressed herein necessarily state or reflect those of the United States government or any agency thereof.

The NWCC Wildlife Workgroup thanks Patrick Gilman (U.S. Department of Energy), Karin Sinclair (National Renewable Energy Laboratory), and the Wildlife Workgroup Core Group and blind peer reviewers selected by NREL to review the document on behalf of the Workgroup.

NWCC Resource Document
 The document is a product of the National Wind Coordinating Collaborative (NWCC) Wildlife Workgroup. It is being released as a Resource Document for educational and informational purposes. The document has been reviewed and approved by an NWCC working group with relevant experience; but, by choice of the NWCC, has not been carried through the full NWCC consensus process. Publication does not presume that all Members have reviewed the content of the document.