POSTER: A Comparison Between Whooping Crane Stopover Habitat Models and Applications to Wind Energy Siting Decisions
20 Mar 18
5:00 PM
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6:00 PM
Tracks:
Poster Presentation
Spatially-explicit models can be useful in informing siting decisions and minimizing potential adverse effects on wildlife prior to wind energy development; however, understanding their assumptions and accuracy is paramount. Inaccurate models can increase costs to the developer, or worse, may increase the risk of adverse effects on wildlife. Whooping cranes, a federally endangered waterbird that migrates from Canada’s Wood Buffalo National Park to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas, is potentially at risk of being adversely impacted by wind energy in portions of the Great Plains. To reduce this risk, agencies and developers use models to predict whooping crane use along the Central Flyway. Identifying high use areas can help minimize or avoid potential adverse interactions. Using publicly available whooping crane stopover models, we compared their results and assumptions, and identified areas of agreement and disagreement to assess performance and utility.