Abstract
Iberdrola Renewables, Inc. proposed to construct the 350-MW Blue Creek Wind Farm near Van Wer in Paulding and Van Wer counties, Ohio. Because bats have been impacted by wind farms, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources requires pre-construction acoustic surveys within the proposed project planning area to assess bat activity. BHE Environmental, Inc. was contracted to install two Anabat units to a meteorological (MET) tower in Van Wert County and assess bat activity based on calls recorded from March 15, 2009 through November 15, 2009. This preliminary report summarizes call sequences recorded from March 5 to August 19, 2009. During 274 detector-nights, 264 calls were recorded, most (78 percent) of which were big brown/silver-haired bats and most (72 percent) were recorded by a detector mounted at 3 meters (m) above teh ground rather than by the detector mounted at 45 m above ground level. Other bat species groups recorded were hoary bats (14 percent), red/evening bats (6 percent), and Myotis (2 percent). Bat activity increased throughout the season, peaking in late July, a pattern which has been seen at other wind farms. BHE is continuing to monitor bat activity and will submit a report when data collection and analysis in complete.