WV Wind Project Bat Kill - 250+ and Counting
The USFWS and WVDNR reports (below) indicate
that 132 dead bats of 5 species were found from August 18-20 at the
Backbone Mountain wind energy facility in WV. In addition, I just heard
that the carcasses of another 98 bats were found following the mid-August
mortality incident at this site. Unfortunately, I believe this windplant
already has greatly exceeded the largest-ever bat kill event reported
for a wind energy facility. In addition, the total number of bats killed
on an annual basis at this windplant is likely to surpass the mortality
level reported at any other wind energy facility in the nation.
The total bat kill so far at the Backbone, WV site is over 250 bats
(counting the dead bats found during the spring), but of course these
numbers reflect only carcasses found (i.e., fatalities). An accurate
estimate of mortality will need to factor in the number missed by searchers
or carried off by scavengers - which can greatly exceed the fatality
count (research at the Buffalo Mountain, TN wind energy facility estimated
the bat mortality level to be twice as large as the actual number of
carcasses that were found). In all likelihood the mortality of bats
at the Backbone, WV windplant will greatly exceed 319 - the mean annual
mortality level recorded at the Buffalo Ridge facility in MN (which
has the highest reported annual bat kill, although with about 10 times
the number of turbines as the WV wind energy facility).
The concerns about cumulative impact to birds and bats from many large
wind energy facilities atop high Appalachian ridges appears increasingly
justified. The Backbone Mountain, WV windplant had the largest bird
mortality event ever reported for that industry during late May, 2003.
For more information on bats and windplants, check out pages 37-46 in
http://www.bpa.gov/Power/pgc/wind/Avian_and_Bat_Study_12-2002.pdf
.
Dan Boone
Conservation Chair,
Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club
Below please find a table with the bat IDs
for the bats delivered to this office last week. Jack Wallace, Shane
Jones, and I processed these specimens. We had a total of 132 bats collected
18-20 Aug 2003. We could not find any specimen labeled "40."
FYI, the marker used was very hard to read after being frozen and thawed,
but I realize these specimens were not part of your usual sample. Paper
labels work better. We did have trouble with one paper label in that
we could not read the last two digits. Because we had numbers 1 through
34, I am assuming it was #35.
Almost all bats could be identified. One Myotis was in bad shape and
could not be positively ID'ed. However, it did have long toe hairs and
was not an Indiana bat.
Craig Stihler
Wildlife Biologist
Wildlife Resources Section(See attached file: windpower0803.wpd)
The carcasses of 132 bats from 5 species were found during a 3-day
period from Aug. 18-20.
| Eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis) |
58 |
| Eastern pipistrelle (Pipistrellus subflavus) |
33 |
| Hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus) |
23 |
| Little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) |
12 |
| Northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis) |
5 |
| (Myotis lucifugus or M. septentrionalis) |
1 |