WORTHINGTON -- The Sports Editor of the Daily Globe forwarded me an e-mail from a reader who was wondering what the effects of the new wind field north of Rushmore would have on wildlife in the area.
I am more than happy to share what I have learned about this evermore common sight on the southwest Minnesota landscape. Wind towers are nothing new, but the sheer numbers of new construction in the past five years is almost mind-boggling.
Wind energy came into fashion in our state back in 1994. This was when Excel Energy wanted to expand its storage capacity for spend nuclear reactor rods at its Prairie Island nuclear facility. The Minnesota legislature said that if you want to do that, then we want you to you add 425 megawatts of wind energy supply by 2003. This was exactly what it would take to launch wind energy in Minnesota. As the trend continues and as more spent fuel rods are added to the storage facility, more wind energy is being added to the landscape by legislative mandate. Currently, Minnesota receives 1.5 percent of its energy from wind. This could grow to 15 to 20 percent in the next 20 years. This is a lot of new wind towers, probably thousands.
Hence the question, do these towers kill or harm wildlife? In the beginning, wind towers in California were dubbed "Condor Cuisinarts". This was from the direct impact that birds had with towers. Since the beginning, changes have been made to reduce these impacts. Building solid towers instead of latticed ones have reduced the number of birds that roost or try to nest there.
This has helped. Data from the Buffalo Ridge wind fields shows almost no bird mortalities from tower strikes. More studies are underway and these results will hopefully back up the initial data, but for now, bird strikes seem to be minimal.
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I have no doubt that there will be literally thousands of towers in Minnesota and they will have some impact.
There are issues surrounding wind energy other than direct tower strikes by birds. They seem to be very species specific. Pheasants, for example, seem to serve no notice to these man-made skyscrapers. Some of the best hunting spots in Lincoln County are the little two-acre grass patches at the base of these towers.
Many towers are in the middle of agricultural farm fields. Pheasants just don't seem to care. Other species think otherwise.
Birds of prey and other raptors show a tendency to avoid nesting near or adjacent to wind towers. Likewise, ground nesting grassland birds like meadowlarks, grasshopper sparrows and waterfowl will also shy away from nesting near tower sights. As more sights are developed this will reduce the areas available for nesting for some species.
There are two other factors that probably affect wildlife more than the towers themselves. The break up of the grassland areas fragment remaining habitats and make it more difficult for native species that require large tracts of undistorted areas to survive. Transmission lines that take the power to where it is needed are also a factor in wildlife habitats and habitat fragmentation. It might not be so much of a problem locally where there is very limited habitat already, but in other areas of development in other states, these could be much bigger factors.
One species that many folks could care less about that are being impacted more than most others is bats. Most people think bats could be gone forever and would actually like that. Bats are an important part of nature and their high mortality rate has researchers looking for ways to minimize this issue.
In addition to wildlife issues, aesthetics can also be problematic. Some folks think that one or two towers look pretty cool on the hillside near their home but don't like the look of 100 or even 500 towers sprawling across the horizon. This becomes the balancing act that is hard to achieve.
Coal mines aren't pretty, storing spent fuel rods from nuclear plants isn't pretty, and global warming will present many less than pretty issues in the future. Other forms of power generation have their own set of problems. The facts are that wind energy is a clean, renewable and a sustainable energy source. Wildlife is affected to varying degrees and will continue to be.
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It is my hope that research continues so that these impacts can be minimized. I don't think that wind energy is going anywhere but forward in the years to come. At the end of my research on the wildlife issues and wind towers in southwest Minnesota, I think that they will be able to coexist if the placement of new towers can take into account the wildlife concerns of that area. On smaller projects fewer than five megawatts, the county commissioners control the cards. On projects over 25 megawatts, the Public Utilities Commission gets the call. These entities need input from the outdoor community to ensure that wildlife doesn't get the back seat on the way to a future destination.
