Balancing Wind and Wildlife: New Data and Tools to Improve Wind Project Siting for Biodiversity Conservation

Summary

The goal of this TNC project is to identify statewide biodiversity priorities by merging the most comprehensive biodiversity data available with wind project priorities and, through consultation with partners, guide appropriate siting of future wind projects. NYNHP has a central role in the project which is to compile, analyze, and prioritize all available statewide biodiversity data and then synthesize this data to address at-risk species habitat, large tracks of natural ecosystems, and connectivity among habitats. The synthesized biodiversity information will be used to inform the appropriate balance between biodiversity and wind energy projects. As part of the project, we are working with Cornell on the first-ever analyses of bird migration routes using citizen science and nocturnal acoustical data.