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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>Whooping cranes fly
over IL too.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>Randi Doeker<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><font size=2
color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>Chicago</span></font></st1:place></st1:City><font color=black
face=Verdana><span style='font-family:Verdana;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><b><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black;font-weight:bold'>Wind farms a threat to whooping cranes? <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>Migration corridor is in areas with best wind power potential<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><b><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black;font-weight:bold'>The Associated Press<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><font
size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'>updated
9:31 a.m. CT, Thurs., Feb. 28, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>STAFFORD, <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kan.</st1:place></st1:State>
- Whooping cranes have waged a valiant fight against extinction, but federal
officials warn of a new potential threat to the endangered birds: wind farms.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>Down to about 15 in 1941, the gargantuan birds that migrate each
fall from <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region> to <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Texas</st1:place></st1:State> now number 266,
thanks to conservation efforts.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>But because wind energy has gained such traction, whooping cranes
could again be at risk — either from crashing into the towering wind
turbines and transmission lines or because of habitat lost to the wind farms.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>"Basically you can overlay the strongest, best areas for wind
turbine development with the whooping crane migration corridor," said Tom
Stehn, whooping crane coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>The service estimates as many as 40,000 turbines will be erected
in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
section of the whooping cranes' 200-mile wide migration corridor.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>"Even if they avoid killing the cranes, the wind farms would
be taking hundreds of square miles of migration stopover habitat away from the
cranes," Stehn said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>The American Wind Energy Association says the industry grew by 45
percent last year, providing about 1 percent of the nation's energy.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>It says its 1,400 member companies don't want their turbines,
power lines, transmission towers and roadways to hurt the cranes, which are
protected by the Endangered Species Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>"We would hate to see any collisions with whooping
cranes," said Laurie Jodziewicz, the association's manager of siting policy.
"It would be very distressing for everybody."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>But Jodziewicz said the wind industry will continue to grow in the
crane's migration corridor and should not be subject to regulations that don't
apply to other industries.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><b><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black;font-weight:bold'>Industry reluctant to change</span></font></b><font
color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-family:Verdana;color:black'><br>
"It's a very windy area," she said. "We certainly want to work
toward minimizing impacts, but there is a real driver behind wind energy, which
is the need for clean, renewable electricity.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>"There are many other things going on in that corridor that
could potentially affect that species. So to say that wind development should
be stopped while allowing all sorts of other activities to continue might not
be the right course of action."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>Nicholas Throckmorton, a spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife
Service, said the agency lacks the authority to demand that wind developers
confer with it.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>"There are no forced consultations," Throckmorton said,
"other than pointing out that it's illegal to kill endangered species or
migrating species."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>Stehn and others say no whooping cranes have been killed by a wind
turbine, though they remain concerned.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>"In the natural world, birds and bats have gotten used to
flying around a lot of things," Throckmorton said. "But nowhere in
the natural world is there a big spinning rotor."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>The wind industry has been criticized for its impact on other
birds and wildlife, as well as its visual effect on the landscape.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><b><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black;font-weight:bold'>Advisory committee created</span></font></b><font
color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-family:Verdana;color:black'><br>
The U.S. Department of the Interior has named a Wind Turbine Advisory Committee
to make recommendations on how to avoid or minimize wind farms' impact on
wildlife and habitats. The committee was scheduled to have its first public
meeting Thursday in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:State>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>There are three flocks of whooping cranes in <st1:place w:st="on">North
America</st1:place>, with a total of about 525 whooping cranes in the wild and
in captivity. But the flock that migrates 2,400 miles from <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Wood</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Buffalo</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">National Park</st1:PlaceType> in northern <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>'s boreal forest to the Aransas National
Wildlife Refuge near <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Corpus Christi</st1:City>,
<st1:State w:st="on">Texas</st1:State></st1:place>, is the only self-sustaining
flock. That means it is the species' best chance for survival, Stehn said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>Whooping cranes, the tallest birds in <st1:place w:st="on">North
America</st1:place>, fly at altitudes of between 500 and 5,000 feet —
enough room to clear the turbines, which range in height from about 200 feet to
295 feet, and their blades, with diameters from 230 feet to 295 feet.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><b><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black;font-weight:bold'>Landing, take-off are the issues</span></font></b><font
color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-family:Verdana;color:black'><br>
The problem, Stehn said, is that the cranes stop every night.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>"It's actually the landing and taking off that's
problematic," he said. "That's when they're most likely to encounter
the turbines and transmission towers."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>The most common cause of death for whooping cranes is crashing
into power lines. Stehn said the industry could help by marking its power
lines, which run from transmission towers.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:4.8pt;mso-para-margin-bottom:.4gd'><font
size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>"Each crane is precious when you only have 266," he
said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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