Partnering to Protect Eagles

By Alissa Byrd

The Eagle Protection and Offset Program, or EPOP, is a remarkable program designed to provide long-term protection to both bald and golden eagles, while streamlining the process for wind project owners needing to fulfill permit requirements.

By nature, eagles, and most raptors, are drawn to areas of wind updraft – these conditions allow the birds to hunt while using the minimal amount of energy required for flight.

Windy areas are also prime locations for wind farms. And when wind farms are built in areas where they may pose a collision and mortality risk to eagles, developers are strongly encouraged to work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to obtain an Eagle Incidental Take Permit.

Bald and golden eagles are protected by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which prohibits the “take” of bald and golden eagles, unless permitted by USFWS. “Take” can include pursuing, shooting, poisoning, wounding, killing, capturing, trapping, collecting, destroying, molesting or disturbing protected eagles, their eggs or their nests.

That means if a wind farm causes eagle mortalities, the developer should obtain an Eagle Incidental Take Permit. EITPs serve as a way to offset eagle take through compensatory mitigation measures while staying compliant with the federal protection of eagles. The USFWS evaluates the complexity of the project to determine the number of offset credits needed.

“It’s the same principle as a carbon offset program,” said Dr. Marco Restani, NorthWestern Energy wildlife biologist. “If an industry is substantially polluting somewhere, they can buy carbon offset credits somewhere else, except in this case, it’s with eagles.”

NorthWestern Energy, along with USFWS, and Burns and McDonnell, an architectural and engineering company, recently developed the Eagle Protection and Offset Program, or EPOP, which allows wind developers and others to obtain EITPs by purchasing EPOP credits. The credits fund power pole retrofit projects to upgrade power lines to meet Avian Power Line Interaction Committee, or APLIC, recommendations.

Older power lines can pose an electrocution risk to eagles. The birds are large enough that both of their wing tips could touch two different conductors, causing them to be electrocuted. Newer power lines are built to Avian Power Line Interaction Committee guidelines, which were established in 2006 to prevent bird electrocutions.

“From our perspective as a utility company, it’s a conservation win for eagles and a system reliability win for us because there will be fewer outages,” Marco said.

To meet Avian Power Line Interaction Committee guidelines, which were established in 2006 to prevent bird electrocutions, power lines must meet the 60/40 rule – 60 inches of distance horizontally between conductors and 40 inches vertically. This photo shows an older pole before it was upgraded.

To meet Avian Power Line Interaction Committee guidelines, which were established in 2006 to prevent bird electrocutions, power lines must meet the 60/40 rule – 60 inches of distance horizontally between conductors and 40 inches vertically. This photos shows a pole that has been rebuilt to meet APLIC guidelines.

NorthWestern Energy’s Avian Protection Plan calls for new lines to meet APLIC guidelines. We also retrofit poles when there is an issue. However, with 28,000 miles of electrical lines on our system, more than enough to go around the circumference of the Earth, it’s impossible for us to retrofit all power poles.

EPOP will help us to retrofit more poles. Through EPOP, when a company purchases EITPs, those funds will be used to proactively retrofit poles in areas known to be high-quality habitat for eagles.

“We do have a large population of eagles in Montana, so it makes sense to implement a program like this,” Marco said. “At the same time, there is a fair amount of wind development happening, and those companies will probably be searching for help with mitigation. Thankfully due to EPOP, we can lend our help to those wind developers.”

Much of our service territory is made up of large expanses of treeless landscapes that are home to eagle prey, such as prairie dogs and other rodents. When we build power lines across those landscapes, they become prime hunting perches for eagles.

EPOP will allow us to retrofit long stretches of power lines in known eagle habitats.

“Instead of our pole-by-pole retrofit approach, we’re going to be able to retrofit entire circuits,” Marco said. “NorthWestern Energy views this landscape approach as being a really important component to our Avian Protection Plan.”

The idea for EPOP was developed by Jim Burruss, a retired biologist at Burns and McDonnell. Jim and Sam Milodragovich, NorthWestern Energy’s now-retired wildlife biologist, collaborated to develop what is now a nationwide program.

“EPOP is their brilliant idea. It’s pure genius,” Marco said.

To satisfy offset eagle take requirements with the only compensatory mitigation measure USFWS recognizes, permittees must replace high-risk power poles with power pole retrofits within the same Eagle

Management Units where eagle take may occur. There are three EMUs in the United States: East, Central and West. In Montana, NorthWestern Energy uniquely falls into both the Central and West EMUs. Those two EMUs cover nearly half of the United States.

“We are hoping to start new construction in the next couple of years,” Marco said. “It requires several different departments to make the program a success. We need to bring in construction workers, engineers and biologists.”

EPOP produces sustainable long-term results by creating an efficient nationwide approach to mitigate eagle take.

“As the first infrastructure sponsor, we realize the EPOP is an important piece of the conservation puzzle,” said Mary Gail Sullivan, director of environmental and lands permitting and compliance at NorthWestern Energy. “We’re honored to be included in an initiative that serves as a bridge between project owners, utilities and the USFWS.”