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Bird and Bat Risk Assessment, Stantec Bird and Bat Risk Assessment: Assessing Risk to Birds and Bats at the Proposed Wild Meadows Wind Project, Merrimack and Grafton Counties, New Hampshire Prepared for: Atlantic Wind LLC P.O. Box 326 Concord, NH 03302 Prepared by: Stantec Consulting Services Inc. 30 Park Drive Topsham, ME 04086 November 2012 (Revised October, 2013) Wild Meadows Bird and Bat Risk Assessment Executive Summary An Ecological Risk Assessment was performed by Stantec Consulting Inc. (Stantec), in 2012 to evaluate potential impacts to avian and bat resources from both the construction and operation of the proposed Wild Meadows Wind Project (the Project) in Grafton and Merrimack Counties, New Hampshire. The assessment used information from literature review, agency consultation, regional surveys and databases, and on-site field surveys to characterize use of the Project area by raptors, nocturnally migrating passerines, breeding birds, and bats. Field surveys used in preparing the risk assessment included: acoustic bat surveys and nocturnal radar surveys conducted in fall 2009; raptor migration surveys, acoustic bat surveys, nocturnal radar surveys and breeding bird surveys conducted in spring 2010; raptor migration surveys conducted in fall 2010; and a mist net survey and northern long-eared bat habitat assessment conducted in 2011. Detailed descriptions of methods and results of these surveys are provided in separate seasonal survey reports (Fall 2009 Radar and Acoustic Surveys [Stantec 2011a], Spring 2010 Avian Bat Survey Report [Stantec 2011b], 2010 Spring and Fall Raptor Migration Surveys [Stantec 2011c], 2011 Mist Net Survey Report [Stantec 2012a], and 2011 Northern Long-eared Bat Habitat Assessment [Stantec 2012b])). Work scopes and levels of effort for field surveys were determined based on Stantec’s experience conducting these types of surveys at proposed wind projects in the northeast as well as consultation with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department (NHFGD), US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and The Audubon Society of New Hampshire (NH Audubon). A work plan detailing the methods of the field surveys were discussed with NHFGD and USFWS and approved at a meeting in Condcord, NH on April 1, 2010. It is currently not possible to definitively quantitatively assess risk to birds and bats in the pre- construction phase, given the existing technology and methodologies available. Therefore, a qualitative weight-of-evidence technique was used in this risk assessment. This assessment was modeled after the method developed by the Massachusetts Weight-of-Evidence Workgroup (hereafter workgroup), an independent ad hoc group of ecological risk assessors from both government and private sectors (Massachusetts Weight-of-Evidence Workgroup 1995). The workgroup drafted a guidance document to provide standardized terminology and methodology for implementing a WOE approach. This document, as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) Framework for Ecological Risk Assessment (USEPA 1992), serve as the basis for the approach used to assess risk to bats and birds from the development and operation of the proposed Project. Using this technique, the results of field surveys, regional data, and literature review were evaluated for their indication of risk to birds and bats from direct and indirect impacts. The strengths and weaknesses of each source of data were also evaluated to assign a level of confidence or certainty to the assessment of risk derived from each type of data. The weight-of-evidence approach has been used for other risk assessments for wind projects in the region, and is an agency-accepted approach to assessing risk. While statements of risk included in this report are made with some uncertainty, results from the weight-of-evidence assessment provide a thorough summary of the current understanding of potential risks to raptors, nocturnally migrating passerines, breeding birds, and bats. The document is organized around these four species groups. Each is addressed separately within the results and discussion sections. November 2012 (Rev. October, 2013) E.1 Wild Meadows Bird and Bat Risk Assessment Potential impacts to raptors are expected to be low (i.e., relatively few individuals impacted), based on the finding that very few raptors have collided with turbines at existing facilities throughout the country (with the exception of older facilities in California, such as Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area), and relatively low numbers of raptors appear to pass over the Project area during the spring and fall migration periods. While the Project area does not support nesting eagles, bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) appear to be occasionally present in the vicinity of the Project area during the spring and fall migration periods, and - while not observed during field surveys for the Project - golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) are known to occur in the region during migration. However, based on publicly available post-construction surveys, eagles have not been documented to collide with wind turbines at any New England projects. Based on the nocturnal radar survey results, nocturnally migrating passerines were observed to migrate through the Project area in relatively moderate to high numbers, although the vast majority of individuals were flying high above the proposed turbine height, and a relatively small percentage of individuals passed below the turbine height. Among the categories of birds discussed in this document, nocturnally migrating passerines are expected to be vulnerable to collision, including those birds passing within the rotor-swept zone, given their apparent abundance during spring and fall migration and results of post-construction mortality monitoring at existing wind projects. However, it is expected that passerine collision rates at this project will be similar to operational projects in New England where mortality has been relatively low, because nocturnal migration of passerines is broad front over the region and the Project shares similar landscape and project design features as these operational projects. Potential impacts to breeding birds are expected to be minimal (i.e., would not represent a population-level impact for any one species). While collision mortality has been documented for breeding birds at existing facilities, birds seem to be less prone to collision during the breeding season than during the spring and fall migration. Indirect impacts to breeding birds associated with habitat conversion are expected to cause limited shifts in species distribution and abundance and are expected to affect certain species more than others. Breeding bird habitat currently within the Project area consists of a mosaic of second growth and successional forest with a history of timber harvests. While many of the species documented at the Project are often found in fragmented habitats, certain forest interior species may be indirectly impacted by the Project. However, overall indirect impacts to breeding birds are expected to be minimal, and the type of clearing associated with the Project is not expected to dramatically alter the breeding bird community in the Project area. Furthermore, no federally or state listed threatened or endangered species were observed in the Project area during breeding bird surveys. Results of the risk assessment suggest that potential impacts to bats consist largely of collision mortality, particularly during the fall migration season. While collision mortality has been documented at operational wind facilities during summer, and bats reside within the region between early spring and late fall, bats seem most vulnerable to collision during the fall migration period based on results from post-construction surveys at existing facilities. Long distance migratory species are expected to be more vulnerable to collision mortality than other species based on these post-construction studies. These species were well represented in the results of on-site acoustic surveys, particularly at high detectors (i.e., heights approaching the lower range of the rotor-swept zone). This finding, combined with the fact that long-distance migratory bat species have comprised the majority of fatalities at several operational facilities, suggests that long-distance migratory bat species may be the group of bats most vulnerable to collision mortality. However, it is expected that bat collision rates at this Project will be similar to operational projects in New England where bat mortality has been relatively low, because the November 2012 (Rev. October, 2013) E.2 Wild Meadows Bird and Bat Risk Assessment patterns of bat fatality have been generally similar across the region and the Project shares similar landscape and project design features as these operational projects. To date, post construction mortality surveys in the northeast, including New England, have documented a greater proportion of long distance migratory bat fatalities, particularly silver-haired bats (Lasionycteris noctivagans) and hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus) than those species that tend to migrate shorter distances, such as Myotis species. Overall, the impacts to birds and bats expected at the Project are expected to be similar to those generally associated with wind power projects in the eastern United States, and most similar to those in New England. Habitats at the Project are typical of northern hardwood – conifer forest, which is the most common forest community in the northern half of the State of New Hampshire. Conifer species
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