Investigating impacts of wind power development in the M-KMA : Investigating impacts of wind power development in the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area

The analysis has three major components: 1) a literature review of research and studies regarding wind power development with an emphasis on relevancy to the M-KMA; 2) spatial modeling and mapping to determine those portions of the M-KMA where wind power development is, or is not, constrained by terrain features, and where wind power development would impinge upon wildlife, wildlife habitat and wi [...] The BWBS zone forms nearly a quarter of the MKMA, dominating the plateau areas to the north east of the study area and valley bottoms of rugged mountainous terrain. [...] The muskeg ecosystem supports both black spruce and tamarack (Larix laricina) tree species and is primarily a result of a climate which is both long and cold in the winter and warm and short in the summer with the presence of permafrost. [...] These are herds of woodland caribou that are considered by the Council on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (Thomas and Gray 2002) to be a species-at- Invest igat ing Impacts of Wind Power Development in the M-KMA:. [...] Variation in the quality and extent of research, coupled with site-specific and species-specific impact regimes (USGAO 2005, NRC 2007), reduces the robustness and utility of many existing estimates of avian and bat mortalities.