Abstract
The Pigeon Creek Wind Turbine is a EWT 900 kilowatt, mounted on a 75-meter hub-height tower. The rotors are 54 meters which yields a 108 meter diameter blade arc. It is situated within an agricultural row crop field northeast of Payson, in Adams County, Illinois. The forest cover near the facility occurs primarily as buffer strips along small streams and field edges and consists mainly of young trees belonging to early succession tree species. The nearest contiguous stands of trees are several miles away from the turbine location. This site is located approximately 3-4 miles east of the Mississippi River valley which serves as a major migratory flyway and is approximately 5 miles from Burton Cave, a known bat hibernaculum.
Our objectives were to 1) determine the impact of the turbine on bat populations, with specific focus on two endangered species of concern : Myotis soda/is (Indiana bat) and Myotis grisescens (Gray bat) and 2) assess if the turbine is above, below, or at the national average of 3.4 bats per turbine per year. In addition to the bat species of concern, the IDNR included four endangered bird species in the plan: Asio flammeus (Short-eared owl), Bartramia /ongicuada (Upland sandpiper), Circus cyaneus (Northern harrier) and Lanius /udovicianus (Loggerhead shrike).