“Every time we get an animal carcass, it has research value,” Katzner said. “If I give it some thought from a scientific perspective, should you leave this corpse in the sector, you are wasting data.”
This data is very important to people like Amanda Hale, a biologist who helped construct the repository at Texas Christian University. He is currently a senior research biologist at Western Ecosystems Technology, a consulting firm that, amongst other services, studies dead wildlife at renewable energy sites. Part of her latest role is working with clean energy firms and the federal government agencies that regulate them, ensuring decision makers have the latest science for projects. Better data can assist clients create more accurate protection plans and help agencies know what to search for, she said, making regulation simpler.
“Once we understand mortality patterns, I believe you is likely to be higher at designing and implementing mitigation strategies,” Hale said.
However, the initiative shouldn’t be without skeptics. John Anderson, executive director of the Energy and Wildlife Action Coalition, a clean energy member group, sees the merits of the hassle but is worried that this system might be “used to characterize the impact of renewable energy in a really unfavorable light” without recognizing its advantages. The wind industry has long been sensitive to suggestions that it kills birds.
Several renewable energy firms contacted by Undark concerning the story either didn’t reply to inquiries about wildlife monitoring at their sites or stopped responding to interview requests. Other industry groups, including the American Clean Power Association and the Renewable Energy Wildlife Institute, declined requests for an interview. However, many firms appear to be involved – in Idaho, Katzner received birds from 42 states.
William Voelker, a member of the Comanche Nation who has run a repository of birds and feathers called Sia for a long time, says he’s frustrated by the shortage of inclusion of tribes in such U.S. government initiatives. He said indigenous peoples have priority over “species of indigenous concern”. His repository catalogs and ships bird carcasses and feathers to indigenous peoples for ceremonial and non secular purposes, and Voelker also cares for eagles.
“At this point, we just do not have a voice within the ring and that is unlucky,” Voelker said.
Katzner, for his part, says he wants the project to be collaborative. He said the Renewable-Wildlife Solutions Initiative sent samples to an Arizona repository that supplies feathers for religious and ceremonial purposes, and the RWSI archive may send other materials it doesn’t archive, but has not yet contacted other locations to achieve this.
“It’s a shame these bird parts aren’t getting used,” he said. “I’d prefer to see them used for scientific or cultural purposes.”
Many American winds farms are already monitoring and collecting downed wild animals. At a California wind farm an hour north of Altamont, Sacramento Municipality tries to empty its freezers a minimum of annually – before the bodies begin to stink, said Ammon Rice, a supervisor in the federal government’s environmental services department. Specimens collected by firms are sometimes stored until discarded. Until recently, samples were available to government and academic scientists only piecemeal.
