Impacts on hunting, fishing, and recreation.
Study after study have documented wildlife leaving an area occupied by industrial wind turbines.
Study after study documents the wildlife killed by wind turbines (insects, birds, bats).
Scientific literature shows that where wildlife avoid wind turbine developed areas, it is not known if the reasons are because of noise, flicker, and construction activity. Industrial wind energy will lead to major habitat loss for wildlife because wind energy has a significantly larger physical footprint compared to other energy production sources.[1] This comes not only from the foundation and cleared area around it, but also industrial roads that will be straight and 60- to 70-foot wide into areas where turbines are located.
Important to local residents who enjoy hunting and viewing wildlife, turbine noise is now documented to affect breeding, and/or contribute to increased cortisol in mammals, indicating a stress response. This is believed to make mammals more susceptible to infection and disease with long-term exposure.[2],[3]
Duck Hunters Beware: Wind Energy Development Reduces Duck Abundance
U.S. FWS scientists showed 5 dabbling duck study species demonstrated a negative response to wind energy development and the reduced abundance observed was consistent with behavioral avoidance.
In a large study in the Dakotas, wind energy development was found to LOWER densities of duck pairs at 26 of 30 study sites, and for all species. Reductions in breeding pairs ranges from 4% to 56%!
The study is quite extensive, researchers conducted 10,338 wetland visits and observed 15,760 breeding duck pairs for 5 species of dabbling ducks (blue-winged teal, gadwall, mallard, northern pintail, northern shoveler) [4]
Read a supporting article on the impact of wind turbines on duck nesting.
Grouse Hunters Beware: Industrial Wind Turbines have Negative Impacts on Grouse Populations
But how will siting of industrial wind development in the Copper Country impact local grouse numbers?
A recent review article shows that 26 studies found a negative effect of wind turbines on grouse numbers and only 9 studies did not prove any effect of wind development on grouse. For studies on our local ruffed grouse, results suggest grouse numbers may decline because of collisions with towers and avoidance of wind developed areas [5]
More research on how industrial wind turbines impact grassland birds
The following journal article shows the impact of turbine noise on vocalization of a bird of conservation concern (in this case a grassland bird, the lesser prairie chicken). Two conclusions are that turbine noise may adversely impact wildlife and low frequency turbine noise may interfere with wildlife vocalizations and behavior (such as during breeding season). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003682X18311411
[1] Mosinski, A. (2019). Risk Assessment to Wildlife from Ohio On-Shore Wind Farm Development: A Landscape Model Approach. Unpublished Master’s Thesis. Los Angeles, CA: University of Southern California.
[2] Hansen, C., & Hansen, K. (2020, March). Recent advances in wind turbine noise research. In Acoustics (Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 172-207). Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute.
[3] Agnew, R. C., Smith, V. J., & Fowkes, R. C. (2016). Wind turbines cause chronic stress in badgers (Meles meles) in Great Britain. Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 52(3), 459-467.
[4] Loesch, C. R., Walker, J. A., Reynolds, R. E., Gleason, J. S., Niemuth, N. D., Stephens, S. E., & Erickson, M. A. (2013). Effect of wind energy development on breeding duck densities in the Prairie Pothole Region. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 77(3), 587-598.
[5] Coppes et al., The impact of wind energy facilities on grouse: a systematic review. Journal of Ornithology, 161(1), 1-15, 2020.
Impacts on hunting, fishing, and recreation.
Several studies have documented wildlife leaving an area occupied by industrial wind turbines. Scientific literature shows that where this is documented, it is not known if the reasons are because of noise, flicker, and construction activity. Industrial wind energy will lead to major habitat loss for wildlife because wind energy has a significantly larger physical footprint compared to other energy production sources.[1] This comes not only from the foundation and cleared area around it, but also roads that will be straight and 60-foot wide into areas where turbines are located. Important to local residents who enjoy hunting, turbine noise may affect breeding, and/or contribute to increased cortisol, indicating a stress response. This is believed to make mammals more susceptible to infection and disease with long-term exposure.[2],[3]
Duck Hunters Beware: Wind Energy Development Reduces Duck Abundance
U.S. FWS scientists shows 5 dabbling duck study species demonstrated a negative response to wind energy development and the reduced abundance observed was consistent with behavioral avoidance.
In a large study in the Dakotas, wind energy development was found to LOWER densities of duck pairs at 26 of 30 study sites, and for all species. Reductions in breeding pairs ranges from 4% to 56%!
The study is quite extensive, researchers conducted 10,338 wetland visits and observed 15,760 breeding duck pairs for 5 species of dabbling ducks (blue-winged teal, gadwall, mallard, northern pintail, northern shoveler).
Read this article on the impact of wind turbines on duck nesting.
Grouse Hunters Beware: Industrial Wind Turbines have Negative Impacts on Grouse Populations
But how will siting of industrial wind development in the Copper Country impact local grouse numbers?
A recent review article shows that 26 studies found a negative effect of wind turbines on grouse numbers and only 9 studies did not prove any effect of wind development on grouse. For studies on our local ruffed grouse, results suggest grouse numbers may decline because of collisions with towers and avoidance of wind developed areas.
Photo from Michigan DNR
More research on how industrial wind turbines impact grassland birds
The following journal article shows the impact of turbine noise on vocalization of a bird of conservation concern (in this case a grassland bird, the lesser prairie chicken). Two conclusions are that turbine noise may adversely impact wildlife and low frequency turbine noise may interfere with wildlife vocalizations and behavior (such as during breeding season). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003682X18311411
[1] Mosinski, A. (2019). Risk Assessment to Wildlife from Ohio On-Shore Wind Farm Development: A Landscape Model Approach. Unpublished Master’s Thesis. Los Angeles, CA: University of Southern California.
[2] Hansen, C., & Hansen, K. (2020, March). Recent advances in wind turbine noise research. In Acoustics (Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 172-207). Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute.
[3] Agnew, R. C., Smith, V. J., & Fowkes, R. C. (2016). Wind turbines cause chronic stress in badgers (Meles meles) in Great Britain. Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 52(3), 459-467.
Coppes et al., The impact of wind energy facilities on grouse: a systematic review. Journal of Ornithology, 161(1), 1-15, 2020.
Loesch, C. R., Walker, J. A., Reynolds, R. E., Gleason, J. S., Niemuth, N. D., Stephens, S. E., & Erickson, M. A. (2013). Effect of wind energy development on breeding duck densities in the Prairie Pothole Region. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 77(3), 587-598.