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And Evening Bat (Nycticeius Humeralis) Presence/Absence in the Vicinity of the Proposed Blissfield Wind Energy Site: Summer 2011

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And Evening Bat (Nycticeius Humeralis) Presence/Absence in the Vicinity of the Proposed Blissfield Wind Energy Site: Summer 2011 Mist-net and Supplemental Acoustic Assessment of Indiana Bat (Myotis sodalis) and Evening Bat (Nycticeius humeralis) Presence/Absence in the Vicinity of the Proposed Blissfield Wind Energy Site: Summer 2011 Prepared By: Brian J. Klatt, Ph.D. and Joelle Gehring, Ph.D. Michigan State University, Michigan Natural Features Inventory P.O. Box 30444 Lansing, MI 48909-7944 Prepared For: ERM 3352 128th Avenue Holland, MI 49424-9263 7 October 2011 MNFI Report No. 2011-05 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Many areas in Michigan possess winds adequate for the efficient generation of wind energy. Some of these areas have also been documented to provide habitat for wildlife, including bats. Bat fatalities at wind turbines due to collisions with turbine blades and monopoles, as well as due to barotrauma, have been documented throughout North America, including the Midwestern United States. Preliminary research suggests that informed siting and mitigation of wind turbines can minimize impacts to bats. Siting decisions can be informed by knowledge of the distribution of bats in the landscape and this can be particularly important in the case of rare species. Due to the potential for fatalities of the Federally-listed Indiana bat and state-listed evening bat at wind turbines, mist-netting was conducted to determine if either of these species was using non-riparian woodlots in the Project Area, located near Blissfield, Michigan. Mist-netting in non-riparian woodlots in the Project Area resulted in capture of a variety of bat species, including the big brown bat, Eastern red bat, hoary bat, and Northern long-eared myotis. Limited mist netting in riparian areas resulted in captures of the big brown bat, Eastern red bat, Northern long-eared bat, and hoary bat. No Indiana or evening bats were netted in either riparian or non-riparian wooded habitats in the Project Area, despite the fact that at least two of the riparian net sets were established in the immediate area of past roost locations as identified by Munzer (2008). Previous work in the area by Munzer (2008) and Kurta (MNFI 2011) found both the Indiana bat and evening bat associated with riparian habitat in the vicinity. The supplemental acoustic sampling in this study confirmed the presence of the evening bat and it is presumed that the Indiana bat still occurs in forested, riparian habitats. However, from a non-riparian habitat perspective, the result that neither target species was captured in non-riparian, forested habitats is consistent with the known historic occurrence of these species in the Project Area and is consistent with the conclusion that the Indiana bat and the evening bat are apparently absent from the non-riparian, isolated woodlots in the proposed wind farm area. This suggests that there is no need to buffer these woodlots with respect to wind turbine siting. Additionally, supplemental acoustic monitoring was used to evaluate whether evening bats were in the Project Area and to what degree this species uses agricultural fields abutting riparian forest along the River Raisin. Three evening bats were detected using the acoustic monitoring. In general, acoustic monitoring suggested that bat activity is closely associated with riparian forest edges and does not extend significantly into agricultural fields, indicating that the USFS 1000-foot buffer between a turbine and Indiana bat habitat should also be protective for the evening bat. Michigan Natural Features Inventory 7 October 2011 Table of contents Page INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 STUDY RATIONALE AND FOCUS .................................................................................2 STUDY SITE DESCRIPTION AND METHODS ..............................................................3 Study Site Description .............................................................................................4 Sampling Intensity ...................................................................................................4 Mist-netting Protocols ..............................................................................................5 Acoustic Data Collection .........................................................................................7 Acoustic Data Analysis ............................................................................................8 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ..........................................................................................9 Mist-netting ..............................................................................................................9 Acoustic Monitoring ..............................................................................................12 CONCLUSIONS................................................................................................................15 LITERATURE CITED ......................................................................................................17 Michigan Natural Features Inventory 7 October 2011 Blissfield Mist-netting p.1 Blissfield Wind Energy, LLC INTRODUCTION Many areas in Michigan possess the quality of winds necessary for the efficient generation of wind energy both on-shore and off-shore (Wind Energy Resource Zone Board, 2009; Michigan Great Lakes Wind Council, 2009). Some of these areas have also been documented to provide habitat for wildlife, including bats. Bat fatalities at wind turbines in North America have been documented at various frequencies, depending on the site and situation, with higher frequencies being reported in the Eastern United States (National Academy of Sciences 2007). Strickland et al. (2011) reviewed reported fatality rates and found them to vary from 0.07-39.7 fatalities/MW/Year, with the highest rates associated with forested, mountain ridge tops. Fatalities can result from either direct interaction with turbines, i.e. bats struck by turbine blades or colliding with monopoles (Kunz et al., 2007; Horn et al., 2008), or from barotrauma, i.e. lung damage resulting from rapid decompression due to turbulence associated with wind turbines (Baerwald et al. 2008). The concern regarding bat fatalities due to wind energy development applies to a variety of bat species known to be subject to such risk, but is especially a concern for threatened or endangered species due to their conservation status. However, only two known fatalities of a Federally-listed bat species (the Indiana bat, Myotis sodalis) have been reported from wind farms in the Midwest (Lori Pruitt, US Fish and Wildlife Service, personal communication). Understanding bat activity patterns in areas proposed for wind farm development will help inform wind developers and resource managers as to the risk of bat fatalities as well as inform the specific placement of turbines within a proposed project area. Due to the potential for bat fatalities at wind energy facilities and the consequent need for careful planning, Exelon Wind contracted ERM to collect information on bat activity in the area of the Blissfield Wind Energy project in the Blissfield, Michigan area (hereinafter “the Project Area”). The Michigan Natural Features Inventory (MNFI), a program of Michigan State University Extension, was selected to assist ERM in this effort. This report by MNFI is the result of studies conducted in the summer of 2011 to assess the presence and relative abundance of bats in general, and the Indiana bat (Federally-endangered) and evening bat (Nycticeius humeralis; state-threatened) in particular. These data will help wind energy developers and resource managers to make Michigan Natural Features Inventory 7October 2011 Blissfield Mist-netting p.2 Blissfield Wind Energy, LLC appropriate decisions regarding the potential impacts to bats and the methods in which they might mitigate those impacts if needed. STUDY RATIONALE AND FOCUS Two legally-protected species of bats are known to occur in the Project Area: the Federally-endangered Indiana bat and the state-threatened evening bat (Kurta 2001, Kurta et al. 2005, Munzer 2008). The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has established operating guidelines with regards to the Indiana bat and wind farm development. Those guidelines indicate that if wind turbines can be located more than 1,000 feet from Indiana bat foraging or roosting habitat it is unlikely that the turbines will impact this endangered species during the summer breeding season (Lori Pruitt, USFWS, personal communication). This guideline is based on USFWS opinion that the Indiana bat tends to forage within wooded areas, or along the edge of wooded areas, but does not forage or travel across open fields to any appreciable extent. As a state-listed species, the USFWS has not established such guidelines for the evening bat, nor has the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, which has authority with respect to state-listed species. Previous studies (Klatt, et al. 2010) in the Project Area indicate that all wooded areas in the Project Area constitute potential summer roosting habitat for the Indiana bat based on the presence of suitable roost trees. However, known occurrences of the Indiana bat in the area suggest that they may be limited to riparian woodlands and may not be found in non-riparian forested areas. While Munzer (2008) found that evening bats in the Project Area roosted exclusively in bottomland forest, dietary evidence suggested that they fed over agricultural fields to a significant degree, unlike the Indiana bat. It is notable that
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