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Juniata Valley Audubon’s
Position Paper Regarding
the Location of Wind Farms
in Blair County

By JVAS Conservation Chair Dr. Stan Kotala
For the JVAS Board of Directors

    Juniata Valley Audubon has learned of several attempts to secure properties for the creation of wind farms on the major mountain ridges of Blair County. Although Juniata Valley Audubon is in favor of renewable energy, the siting of wind farms along central Pennsylvania’s ridges would have a severe negative impact on resident and migratory wildlife, and preclude recreation, such as hunting and hiking, within several hundred yards of the wind towers.

    The wind turbines themselves have been shown to kill many birds and bats. Ridges such as Brush Mountain and Tussey Mountain are major migratory routes for golden eagles and bald eagles, as well as smaller raptors such as broad-winged hawks, peregrine falcons, and sharp-shinned hawks, and other migratory birds, such as waterfowl and songbirds.

    Our ridges, because they provide continuous forest cover in a north-south orientation, also serve as travel corridors for migratory bats, such as the silver-haired bat and the red bat. Brush Mountain, Canoe Mountain, Lock Mountain, and Loop Mountain surround the greatest concentration of bats in the Commonwealth, including the state’s largest colony of the federally endangered Indiana bat in Canoe Creek State Park. The threatened small-footed bat also has been found in several caves in this area. The windfarm closest to us, in Meyersdale, is notorious for killing thousands of bats each year. Wind projects integrated into the highest forested ridgelines in the region, unlike wind projects in the Midwest and West, devastate bat populations.

    Because these turbines will require maintenance, roads will need to be constructed to the ridgetops of mountains that now are largely roadless, resulting in fragmentation of their forests, which provides a pathway to exotic invasive species, such as Ailanthus. In addition to the fragmentation caused by the construction of new, permanent roads, the three- to five-acre pads around each tower quickly add up. Juniata Valley Audubon views this loss of intact ridgetop forest as the most devastating effect of locating windfarms on our mountains. One of our members recently visted a major ridgetop wind installation in West Virginia and was shocked to discover that the entire ridgetop had been cleared of vegetation for several miles — the length of the installation. Thus, even if the problems with bird and bat deaths by direct collision can be solved, we would see a permanent loss of forest cover in the very places where wildlife most needs it. In addition, in the central and southwestern portions of Pennsylvania, ridge systems serve as habitat islands for forest-dependent species, such as the scarlet tanager, the wood thrush, the cerulean warbler, the bobcat, and the fisher.

    The Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory conducted under the direction of the Blair County Planning Commission designated Brush Mountain, Canoe Mountain, Lock Mountain, Loop Mountain and Tussey Mountain as Landscape Conservation Areas because of the value of their unfragmented forests for wildlife. In addition, the Blair County Planning Commission’s Greenways Plan demarcates these same mountains as Greenways, or areas where conservation of the natural landscape should be the primary objective. The siting of wind turbines in areas designated as both Landscape Conservation Areas and Greenways by the Blair County Planning Commission would violate the intent of these designations.

    Because of the danger posed by ice and broken parts being thrown from the 200-foot-long rotors, people will not be able to venture safely within several hundred yards of the towers. Ice from the rotating blades has been thrown more than 500 yards, putting people and property at risk. In addition, the noise from each 300-to-400-foot-tall tower is the equivalent of a gas-powered generator (100 decibels) and can be heard up to 1500 feet away. This will preclude recreation, such as hiking and hunting, on ridges where the wind farms are located.

    The U.S. Department of the Interior guidance document regarding wind farm location states (on pp. 3 and 4):

  1. Avoid placing turbines in areas where there are endangered species. (The area surrounded by Brush Mountain, Canoe Mountain, Lock Mountain, and Loop Mountain, which are all LCAs, is home to the largest Indiana bat colony in Pennsylvania. The Indiana bat is a federally endangered species.)
     
  2. Avoid placing turbines in bird migration pathways. (Brush Mountain and Tussey Mountain, both LCAs, are major migratory routes for raptors, especially golden eagles and bald eagles.)
     
  3. Avoid placing turbines near known bat hibernation, breeding, and maternity colonies. (The area surrounded by Brush Mountain, Canoe Mountain, Lock Mountain, and Loop Mountain, all LCAs, is home to the largest maternity colony of little brown bats in Pennsylvania (20,000+) and is the hibernation site for 25,000 bats of six species, including the federally endangered Indiana bat and the Threatened small-footed bat.)
     
  4. Avoid fragmenting large, contiguous tracts of wildlife habitat. (Brush Mountain, Canoe Mountain, Lock Mountain, and Loop Mountain, as well as Tussey Mountain and portions of the Allegheny Front were designated as LCAs in the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory done under the direction of the Blair County Planning Commssion because they represent large contiguous tracts of forested wildlife habitat.)

    As you can see, locating wind farms on Blair County’s LCAs does not meet the criteria for acceptable wind farm locations according to the U.S. Department of the Interior.

    For the above-mentioned reasons, Juniata Valley Audubon recommends that local governments prohibit the construction of wind turbines in areas designated as Landscape Conservation Areas by the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory done under the direction of the Blair County Planning Commission. On the forested ridges designated as Landscape Conservation Areas, the devastating effects of wind farms on wildlife conservation and outdoor recreation outweigh any environmental benefit of wind power.

    Juniata Valley Audubon seeks a balanced approach to energy production. It is not unreasonable to recommend that lands designated to have exceptional conservation value be off limits to wind farm development.

    For additional information, contact Dr. Stan Kotala, Juniata Valley Audubon President and Conservation Chair, at 814 946-8840 or at ccwiba@keyconn.net.