December 2, 2022
Vermont

Deerfield black bear wind turbine study ongoing

By WCAX News Team. Published: Dec. 1, 2022 at wcax.com

Vermont wildlife officials are sifting through a decade’s worth of data to learn more about the impacts of wind turbine development on black bears.

The state commissioned a study on black bears and the Deerfield wind development built in 2017 in Readsboro and Searsburg. It looked at how the bears interacted with the different phases of the development from baseline studies through the construction of the 15 turbines there now.

Jaclyn Comeau, the black bear project leader for Vermont Fish and Wildlife, says although there aren’t any major wind projects coming up, the data will be valuable. “Our hope is to better understand how wind development might impact bears, so we have better influence over siting potential future wind facilities. And then of course just understanding how different types of human development and human land use practices impact bears can influence how we are strategizing to protect these important habitats,” she said.

Black bears are what the state considers an “umbrella species,” meaning data collected on them can inform biologists about other species as well. Comeau says they are hoping to have information to offer the public by the summer of 2024.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2022/12/02/deerfield-black-bear-wind-turbine-study-ongoing/