A Win-Win for Wind and Wildlife

Public service announcement: check out The Nature Conservancy’s cool new wind energy and wildlife interactive graphic at Nature.org!

The graphic reveals the wind energy capabilities of various U.S. states (Indiana, Wyoming, Colorado, Texas, etc) as well as information on how to avoid harming wildlife (like the peregrine falcon in Indiana, the sage grouse in Colorado or the trumpeter swan of Minnesota) when siting wind farms.

This graphic is a quick way to get a sense of how wind energy and wildlife can coexist.

It’s part of a new report by the Conservancy on this issue. The report, “Win-Win for Wind and Wildlife: a Vision to Facilitate Sustainable Development,” outlines a common sense approach to energy independence by recommending that we site wind farms on lands already affected by development (like agriculture or oil and gas exploration).

The report was authored by the Conservancy’s Joe Kiesecker, Joe Fargione, Jeffrey Evans and others, and published last week by the scientific journal PLoS One.

David Naugle, a professor of wildlife biology at the University of Montana and a contributor to the report, says, “development decisions are usually made piecemeal, but now, just as wind is gearing up, The Nature Conservancy has provided us with a blueprint on how to [develop wind energy] and avoid impact at the same time.”

The interactive graphic is accompanied by a feature article by freelance writer Douglas Vaira.

So head over to Nature.org to check out the graphic and learn more about the study and then head back over here and tell us what you think in the comments below!

Matt Barrett is marketing manager for climate change at The Nature Conservancy