--6c9649b28d1ce1734eb232e3e53b2d84 Content-Disposition: form-data; name="E04BRA01NMUS.txt"; filename="E04BRA01NMUS.txt" * MEMBER CENTER* | Create Account | Log In *SEARCH:* Home Local News Weather Sports Traffic Health Business & Consumer Community KRIS Programming KDF Programming KAJA Programición Ask the Expert Real Estate Weddings About KRIS Advertise on KRIS July 11, 2005 *LIFESTYLE: * Education | House & Home | Money | Pets | Recipes | Weddings | What's Next | More Topics... *'Green' energy another threat to grouse* Email to a Friend Printer Friendly Version *Local News Headlines* *more>>* *Special fishing trip for Driscoll patients* *CCAD General Electric contract renewed* *Volunteers clean up Robstown cemetery* *Health Dept. to hold Back to School Immunization Clinic* *Senate stalled on tax measure* *NASA's countdown clocks ticking for first time since Columbia* *Local Army reservists given prestigious award* *General tours NAV STA Ingleside* *Texas Hold 'Em concers* *Massage parlor reopens one week after raid* TULSA, Okla. -- Wind power, a clean energy source that is plentiful in western Oklahoma, presents a threat to a dwindling population of birds on the Great Plains, conservationists and researchers say. The concern is that planned wind farms may damage bird habitat. Scientists are attempting to map the areas where potential wind farms and bird habitats overlap. "It's great that wind power is happening," said Jay Pruett, director of conservation for the Oklahoma chapter of The Nature Conservancy. "We're in favor of it, but what a lot of people do not know about is the impact on wildlife." Prairie grouse, whose numbers have taken a nosedive, particularly concern conservationists. The lesser prairie chicken, whose population has fallen from about 2 million to fewer than 50,000 in the past century, seem vulnerable to any sign of human activity in their breeding grounds, which stretch from northern Oklahoma into Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and Texas, said Ron Wolfe of the Sutton Avian Research Center in Bartlesville, Okla. "One of the things we are worried about is the discontinuity of breeding grounds," Wolfe said. Disjointed groups become genetically isolated and prone to sudden declines in population, he said. All prairie birds need breeding grounds and nursery areas devoid of human activity, up to more than 44 square miles, according to researchers. A few tall trees, a transmission tower or a silo may be too much for the birds. All species of prairie grouse are declining, some severely. One species, Texas' Attwater's Greater Prairie chicken, has been recommended for inclusion on the federal endangered species list. Concern for the birds comes as wind power takes off in Oklahoma. Fields of wind turbines started producing power within the past two years. Taking advantage of a steady wind in the west and federal incentives that were extended in 2004, farms are undergoing expansion. In addition, Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co., the state's largest power company, plans to increase its wind purchasing by 160 percent through a new field. OG and E plans to have a wind energy purchase agreement in place by the end of June, OG and E spokesman Brian Alford said. The planned field, to be developed at a still undetermined location, would go online before the end of 2005, Alford said. So far, wind farms have been developed in areas that were poor habitat for prairie birds, Wolfe said. Keeping that streak alive is the challenge, he said. "They are going to continue building wind farms," Wolfe said. "So far, so good, but I know some of the sites being considered are near the birds." Wind power developers have leased sites that could effect prairie grouse, Pruett said. Included on that list is property on the western edge of the conservancy's largest holding, the 40,000-acre Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in northern Oklahoma's Osage County, he said. Developing a site for wind turbines, transmission lines to carry the power and roads to reach the equipment all create concerns, said Robert Robel, a Kansas State University biologist. Robel collected data on prairie chickens in southwestern Kansas for six years. While there were no wind farms in the area, the suspicion is that 300-foot turbines with spinning blades would have an effect similar to other vertical structures, Robel said. Robel's research found that the birds nested at least a mile from powerlines, power plants and gas compressor stations around Garden City, Kan. At least 95 percent of the birds would also avoid roads for about one-quarter mile and stayed about two-thirds of a mile away from buildings, Robel said. Wind farms, however, represent just one more challenge for the birds. "A golf course, a feedlot, a ranchette, all sorts of human activity" effects the birds, he said. "Some people want to put it all on windpower, and that's not accurate." Others agreed. Wolfe, Pruett and Chris Hise, another conservationist with the conservancy, said they approved of wind power for its virtues. They just wanted to make sure that new sites did not pop up in fields where prairie chickens nest or seek mates. "We're excited about wind power, but the siting is critical," Hise said. "We're trying to start a dialogue with wind companies." Looking at historical bird ranges, current ranges and areas with a steady wind has yet to produce a map with good and bad areas, Pruett said. Researchers are still considering the potential impacts of wind energy on prairie chickens, other birds, bat populations and even migratory whooping cranes, he said. Unlike the short-hop, low-flying chickens, cranes and bats might also face the threat of colliding with the towers, Wolfe said. "It's going to take more data and it will take time to study," Pruett said. "Wind energy facilities are being built now, so we have to make companies aware that there are negative environmental impacts." /Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. 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