Sorry, Matthew, I meant to reply to all. Jack Meyer
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jack Meyer" <[email protected]>
To: "Voisine, Matthew NAN02" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2010 3:00 PM
Subject: Re: [nysbirds-l] Blockbusting
Matthew's post caused me to think a bit. If a wind turbine, or a whole
farm full of them, malfunctions, it will not coat birds, other wildlife,
and shorelines in oil.
Of course, one windfarm is not going to make much of a dent in our
dependance on oil, but it is a step in the right direction.
Jack Meyer
----- Original Message -----
From: "Voisine, Matthew NAN02" <[email protected]>
To: "Bill Evans" <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>;
"cayugabirds" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2010 11:04 AM
Subject: RE: [nysbirds-l] Blockbusting
Hi all
I had initially thought of replying just to Bill but decided to reply to
all.
I have NO vested interest in wind power or birds for that matter. I do
however believe that wind power presents an excellent opportunity to move
towards a more sustainable form of energy, and I have been researching
avian
behavior and birding for 15 years.
Wind turbines kill a minute number of birds annually. The numbers are in
the
single digits per year per turbine. Compare those numbers to domestic
cats,
buildings, and towers, and you will see that concerning yourself with wind
turbine caused avian mortality is insignificant. As well as the fact that
to
build a building, radio, television, or cellular tower, or own a cat, you
do
not need to complete a $100,000's study of how they will affect birds.
Just some food for thought.
Below are just a few links to some peer-reviewed journal articles
concerning
avian interaction with wind turbines.
http://www.outlierproductions.com/Resources/Barrios%20bird%20wind.pdf
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3082982
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3784243
http://pdfserve.informaworld.com/610790__909088697.pdf
Avian interactions with television towers, or buildings
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4514603
http://www.birdsandbuildings.org/docs/WinStrikeMortalityTJO.pdf
http://74.125.155.132/scholar?q=cache:SfGsZ-2oBKoJ:scholar.google.com/+avian+
mortality+building+strike&hl=en&as_sdt=20000000000
Predation of birds by domestic cats
http://up.picr.de/2379461.pdf
http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrecord.php?requester=gs&collection=ENV&recid=
3596640&q=predation+of+birds+by+domestic+cat&uid=1090184&setcookie=yes
Matthew Voisine
Wildlife Biologist
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Planning - Environmental Analysis Branch
26 Federal Plaza - Rm 2151
New York, New York 10278-0090
Voice: 917.790.8718
Fax: 212.264.0961
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bill Evans
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 6:24 PM
To: [email protected]; cayugabirds
Subject: [nysbirds-l] Blockbusting
Greetings birders,
In the lull between NY breeding bird atlases, I thought some birders out
there might be interested in some mid-season blockbusting. In this case,
it's
not USGS blocks but the locale of a proposed wind energy project in
western
NY.
The proposed Alabama Ledge wind farm, about 5 miles northwest of Batavia,
NY
would consist of up to 52 wind turbines and border the southern edges of
the
Iroqouis National Wildlife Refuge and the Oak Orchard Wildlife Management
Area. The Town of Alabama, NY is the lead agency and is currently weighing
the proposal and its draft environmental impact statement. The latter
included a breeding bird study in which the stated goal was:
"locating and counting breeding resident birds within the areas proposed
for
development. The surveys were conducted in the first two weeks of June
based
on the regional timing recommended for USGS BBS in western New York (USGS
2001)."
Toward that end, a consultant hired by the wind project developer carried
out
two 3 minute point count surveys at 20 points within the wind project
area.
That is all the breeding bird survey planned to be conducted for this wind
project and it provides the formal record for consideration of breeding
birds
that might be potentially impacted by the project. To me that seems like a
grossly inadequate level of assessment, especially so for a wind project
proposed to be built in such close proximity to some of our precious
wildlife
refuges. For any wind project in New York (and beyond) it seems we should
have a detailed record of what was there prior to the wind project's
construction.
I'm planning on heading over to the locality of the Alabama Ledge wind
project this Sunday to bird along the roadsides within the proposed wind
project area. I'd welcome coordinating with any similarly interested
birders
this Sunday and collating sightings from birders visiting the location
over
the next month. The goal would be to send the Town of Alabama, NYDEC and
USFWS a list of additional breeding species within the proposed wind
project
development, that were not detected in the developer's survey, which might
be
impacted by the wind project.
A map of the project area along with the species detected by the
developer's
breeding bird study can be found at the following link:
http://www.horizonwindfarms.com/northeast-region/documents/under-dev/alabama-
ledge/deis/Appendix%20F2%20Avian%20and%20Bat%20Studies.pdf
Please email me offlist if you are interested in participating in this
"blockbusting" effort.
Bill Evans
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