The California Energy Commission and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), have developed a guideline to help reduce impacts to birds and bats from the development or repowering of wind energy projects.
The California Guidelines for Reducing Impacts to Birds and Bats from Wind Energy Development provides recommendations on methods to assess bird and bat activity at proposed wind energy sites; information on designing prepermitting and operations monitoring plans; and details on how to develop impact avoidance, minimization, and mitigation measures.
The guidance and methods described are suggestions for local permitting agencies to use at their discretion. They can also be used as a resource for other parties involved in the permitting process.
Final Guidelines
Frequently Asked Questions
BIOS and the California Wind Energy Biological Dataset
CDFW manages the Biogeographic Information and Observation System (BIOS), which enables the visualization and analysis of biogeographic data.
BIOS contains a variety of datasets that can be viewed without specialized software. They can be used in conjunction with other data layers for larger planning efforts.
One of the available datasets in BIOS is the California Wind Energy Biological Dataset, which is an online repository that gives viewers access to wind energy-related documents and biological datasets to help inform management decisions. The dataset contains a collection of PDF reports from monitoring and research efforts at California wind projects. The information is linked to the approximate geographic locations of the projects.
To access the dataset, click on the “BIOS Renewable Energy Viewer” (for public) button; then select “California Wind Energy Biological Dataset.”
To submit a wind-wildlife dataset, email a Zip file to biology@energy.ca.gov. Datasets may also be mailed to:
California Energy Commission
Attn: Misa Werner
1516 Ninth Street, MS-17
Sacramento, CA 95814
Identify the data as belonging to the California Wind Energy Biological Dataset and specify any access restrictions. Proprietary or confidential information should not be submitted. For more information, visit the BIOS submission Web page.