Direct mortality may result when birds and bats collide with wind turbines, towers, or transmission lines servicing wind farms. Recent studies of mortality at wind farms in the Midwestern USA suggest that the number of birds and bats killed annually are relatively low. However, Nebraska is unusual in the concentration of migratory birds we host each spring and fall (e.g. Rainwater Basin wetlands, Platte River), and in the rarity of some species like the whooping crane where even mortality of a few individuals would have a significant negative impact on the species’ population. For these reasons, direct mortality impacts are of greater concern in Nebraska than in other Midwestern states.

Habitat degradation from wind farms and their associated infrastructure represents an environmental cost that may be greater than direct mortality, especially in the grasslands of the Great Plains. A number of studies have demonstrated the negative reaction of grassland birds to the presence of wind towers; e.g. species like the endangered lesser prairie chicken vacate otherwise suitable habitat around and within a mile of a wind farm. Since grassland birds as a group have suffered the steepest declines in population over the past 30 years among all North American birds, and given that Nebraska is home to some of the largest, least degraded grasslands in the Great Plains, habitat degradation from widely distributed wind farms poses a very credible and potentially large environmental cost in our state.

| Wind and Nebraska's Wildlife {draft} - PDF |

Above are the links to the Nebraska Wind and Wildlife Map and supporting documentation. This map was designed to aid in planning for wind power development by identifying areas that are considered relatively more sensitive or less sensitive to such development, with respect to species of concern. This map does not serve as an environmental review as even in “low sensitivity” areas shown, there will be specific locations where siting of wind power infrastructure can negatively impact significant biological resources (e.g. remnant tallgrass prairie, listed plant species, etc.). Contact the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for potential site-specific impacts and potential conservation measures to avoid “take” under the state Nongame and Endangered Species Conservation Act and the federal Endangered Species Act.

*Information on this website, maps and supporting documentation do not reflect the position of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission on wind development, but rather provide information of potential wildlife impacts.