Wyo. sets wildlife guidelines for wind developers

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has released recommendations for protecting wildlife during wind energy development, including restrictions in sage grouse habitat and in big game winter range and migration corridors.

The department characterized this week's draft document as "advanced disclosure" of potential wildlife concerns. The department advises the Wyoming Industrial Siting Council on permit applications for major projects in the state, including wind farms.

The department began compiling the document a year ago because of growing interest in wind development in the state, biologist Scott Gamo said. It's modeled after similar guidelines for oil and gas development.

"We felt we needed to provide a concerted effort that the department can use to approach development, much as we've done with oil and gas," said Gamo, chairman of the department's wind task force. "Hopefully through the document, (developers) can know what our expectations are up front."

The department is taking public comment on the draft document until Dec. 18, after which time the Game and Fish Commission will vote on whether to adopt the recommendations.

The draft document includes recommendations for collecting data and evaluating wind development's effects on wildlife. It also includes recommendations for mitigating effects on wildlife.

Gamo said he considers it a "living document" that will be updated as scientific study reveals more information. There's a shortage of study on wind development's affect on animals including sage grouse, elk and mule deer.

"There is a rush to develop wind energy in Wyoming, but there is also very little research on the potential impacts of wind energy on wildlife other than bats, songbirds and raptors," Gamo said.

The Wyoming Power Producers Coalition, which represents 15 wind development companies, is forming a working group to review the draft recommendations, Executive Director Cheryl Riley said. The group plans to meet with Game and Fish during the public comment period.

"We'll be able to comment later on, but we're not ready to do that yet," Riley said.

The document reiterates the department's stance against wind development in important sage grouse habitat known as "core population areas." The state designated the areas as part of its strategy to stave off federal protections for the bird.

Citing existing studies, the report says amphibians and reptiles, bats, birds and mammals may be influenced in different ways by wind farms. Those could include disturbance from the shadow flicker of spinning turbine blades, the noise made by spinning blades, and displacement by construction activity and new structures, to name a few.

The report's "best management practices" recommendations include seasonal construction suspensions like those for oil and gas development. It recommends suspending construction from Nov. 15 to April 30 on big game crucial winter habitat and from March 15 to June 30 within two miles of occupied sage grouse breeding grounds in non-core habitat.