The golden eagle population in the United States is at risk of decline, according to biologists. Some of the greatest threats to these raptors are electrical lines, bullets, cars and wind turbines. While many of these hazards are entrenched in society, wind farms are a recent addition.
“Because this is a new technology and something new on the landscape, we have an opportunity to be proactive and find the best places where we can still harvest renewable energy but still reduce the risk to eagle populations,” said Bryan Bedrosian, director of the Teton Raptor Center in Wilson, Wyoming.
Currently, wind farms are prolific in Wyoming, where golden eagles nest and migrate. While the turbines can present a threat to golden eagles, wind energy provides a number of benefits. Nationwide, it helps avoid 329 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, according to the Department of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
“I’m certainly a green energy advocate, but to me it’s worrisome about where we’re putting some of these wind farms because they happen to be in exactly the best places for golden eagles,” biologist Mike Lockhart said.
To mitigate the issue, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service offers incidental take permits, which allow wind farms to kill a maximum number of birds as an unintended consequence of executing their business. To “take” is to “pursue, shoot, shoot at, poison, wound, kill, capture, trap, collect, molest or disturb.” Without a permit, it is illegal to take a golden eagle under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.
Energy companies with wind farms in the region, like Pacificorp, are also implementing their own mitigation tactics.
“We have, on staff, biologists that help us with tracking migration patterns, bird behavior, and we have personnel at wind sites who are monitoring the activity of birds–particularly golden eagles in Wyoming,” said David Eskelsen, spokesman for Pacificorp. “And they have the authority to stop individual turbines if birds are observed in the area.”
In 2021, 34 take permits on golden eagles were issued nationwide for a total of 170 birds. An Associated Press public records review found that wind farms applied for most of those permits.
