U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Final Environmental Assessment Biglow Canyon Wind Farm Eagle Permit Prepared by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Migratory Birds and Habitat Program 911 NE 11th Ave Portland, OR 97232 May 2020 i Biglow Wind Farm –Final EA Contents Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................ iv Chapter 1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 1.1. Environmental Assessment Overview ............................................................................. 1 1.2. Project Description ........................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2.0 Purpose and Need ................................................................................................... 6 2.1. Purposes and Need for Federal Action ............................................................................. 6 2.2. Decision to be Made ......................................................................................................... 6 2.3. Tiered EA ......................................................................................................................... 8 2.4. Authorities and Statutory and Regulatory Framework ..................................................... 8 2.5. Scope of Analysis ............................................................................................................. 9 2.6. Tribal Trust Coordination ............................................................................................... 10 2.7. Public Participation ........................................................................................................ 10 Chapter 3.0 Alternatives ........................................................................................................... 11 3.1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 11 3.2. Key Elements of Alternatives ........................................................................................ 11 3.3. Alternatives Analyzed in Detail in this EA .................................................................... 12 Chapter 4.0 Affected Environment ........................................................................................... 31 4.1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 31 4.2. Physical Environment .................................................................................................... 31 4.3. Bald and Golden Eagles ................................................................................................. 31 4.4. Migratory Birds and Bats ............................................................................................... 36 4.5. Federally Endangered and Threatened Species .............................................................. 36 4.6. Tribal Traditional Uses/Native American Religious Concerns ...................................... 37 Chapter 5.0 Environmental Consequences ............................................................................... 37 5.1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 37 5.2. Effects Common to All Alternatives .............................................................................. 38 5.3. Alternative 1 – No Action .............................................................................................. 40 5.4. Alternative 2 – Issue a 30-Year Permit .......................................................................... 41 5.5. Alternative 3 – Issue 5-year eagle permit ....................................................................... 44 Chapter 6.0 Cumulative Effects ................................................................................................ 46 ii Biglow Wind Farm –Final EA 6.1. Local Area Population Analysis ..................................................................................... 47 6.2. Authorized Take ............................................................................................................. 49 6.3. Unauthorized Take ......................................................................................................... 49 Appendices ............................................................................................................................... 57 Appendix A Eagle Conservation Plan Appendix B Bayesian Eagle Collision Risk Model Appendix C Resource Equivalency Analysis Appendix D List of Agencies and Persons Consulted and List of Preparers Figures Figure 1. Biglow Canyon Wind Project Location .......................................................................... 2 Figure 2. Biglow Canyon Wind Project Layout ............................................................................. 3 Figure 3. The Biglow Canyon Wind Farm Local Area Population (109 mi. radius circle in black for golden eagles, 86 mi. radius circle in gray for bald eagles). The golden eagle Local Area Density Unit boundary in magenta, bald eagles in blue. .............................................................. 48 Tables Table 1. Tribes contacted for comment on the Service permit decision. ...................................... 10 Table 2. Key components of the alternatives. ............................................................................... 11 Table 3. High-risk power poles that will be retrofitted over the life of the Project under Alternative 2 by a range of retrofit completion schedules and retrofit longevities. ..................... 17 Table 4. Stepwise adaptive management for eagle take at the Biglow Canyon Project under a 30- year permit. ................................................................................................................................... 21 Table 5. Stepwise adaptive management for eagle take at the Biglow Canyon Project under Alternative 3.................................................................................................................................. 28 Table 6. Estimated Golden Eagle and Bald Eagle Local Area Population for the Biglow Canyon Project. .......................................................................................................................................... 48 Table 7. Known unauthorized golden eagle mortalities within 218 miles and bald eagle mortalities within 172 miles of the Biglow Canyon Project from 2009 through 2018. ................ 51 iii Biglow Wind Farm –Final EA Abbreviations Applicant Portland General Electric Company CET Cumulative Effects Tool CFR Code of Federal Regulations EA Environmental Assessment Eagle Act Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act ECP Eagle Conservation Plan EFSC Energy Facility Siting Council EMU Eagle Management Unit LAP Local Area Population MW Megawatts NEPA National Environmental Policy Act ODOE Oregon Department of Energy ORNHIC Oregon Natural Heritage Information Center PEIS Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Eagle Rule Revision, December 2016 PGE Portland General Electric Company Project Biglow Canyon Wind Farm SCA Site Certification Agreement Service U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service WIRHS Wildlife Incident Response and Handling System iv Biglow Wind Farm –Final EA Chapter 1.0 Introduction 1.1. Environmental Assessment Overview We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are proposing to issue an Eagle Take permit (eagle permit) under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (Eagle Act) (16 United States Code [U.S.C.] 668–668d and 50 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] 22.26) for take of eagles that is incidental to otherwise lawful operation of the Biglow Canyon Wind Farm (Biglow Canyon or Project). The Service’s proposal to issue an eagle permit constitutes a discretionary Federal action that is subject to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). This Final Environmental Assessment (EA) is tiered to the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Eagle Rule Revision (PEIS; USFWS 2016b). Our proposed action and preferred alternative is Alternative 2 – to issue a 30-year permit to the applicant based on their Eagle Conservation Plan (ECP; Appendix A) and other application materials. Two alternatives to the proposed action analyzed in this EA are to deny the issuance of the permit, also called the No Action Alternative (Alternative 1) and to issue a 5-year permit (Alternative 3). Denying the issuance of this eagle permit (Alternative 1) would result in no requirement for monitoring, adaptive management, or compensatory mitigation to offset predicted impacts of the Project. Issuing a 5-year permit (Alternative 3) would limit long-term conservation benefits to eagles and would not mandate long-term fatality monitoring due to the 5-year permit tenure. We received an application for a 30-year eagle permit from Portland General Electric (PGE, or the Applicant) on April 2, 2015, requesting authorization of non-purposeful or “incidental” take of bald and golden eagles under the Eagle Act from Project operation. The Applicant’s ECP (Appendix A) is the foundation of the permit application and is referenced frequently herein. The analyses in this EA consider the potential effects on the human environment under