Wind projects' 'take permit' will fund condor breeding, wildlife releases

Jul. 22—Sooner or later, a curious young California condor will fly too close and probably be killed by one of the giant rotors that generate electricity as they slice through the air in the Tehachapi Wind Resource Area.

No such death has been reported yet, but it's expected to happen eventually — despite prevention measures like turbine shutoffs — ironically, because of the birds' hopeful rebound from the brink of extinction. Success with in-captivity breeding and release has expanded their range from Southern California to the Sierra Nevada via the Tehachapi Mountains.

Recognizing this growing risk, companies whose wind farms predate the species' ongoing recovery have applied for what are called incidental take permits to shield them from consequences such as criminal prosecution.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued the second and largest of these permits last month, giving eight companies legal protection in the event of accidental death of up to 11 free-flying condors and 11 chicks or eggs over a 30-year period.

The permits, besides making certain voluntary prevention measures mandatory, require the wind energy developers to spend more than $6 million to support the breeding and raising of 35 condors for release into the wild.

The process has renewed conversations about how to balance clean power with environmental protections in Kern County, the state's renewable energy leader.

Wildlife conservation groups have expressed reservations but conceptually they support the permits, not just as a way of solidifying condor protections but also because they say replacing petroleum energy with renewables will ultimately save far more condors.

The National Audubon Society backed the permit's captive breeding and release requirements as an effective strategy behind the species' recovery. Director George Garry of the society's clean energy initiative said by email Audubon also likes the idea that wind developers will have to continue investing in new technology to protect the birds.

Any human development interferes with wildlife, Garry noted — at least this process contributes to limiting climate change for the benefit of billions of birds across North America. He also pointed out it wasn't a question of whether to approve the turbines, most of which already exist.

"It's important to think of these take permits not as permission to hurt wildlife, but an obligation to minimize harm as much as possible," he wrote.

The coalition that applied for the newer take permit, called California's new Wind Energy Condor Action Team, or WECAT, said its agreement with the federal government was prompted by worries the birds would be injured or killed by its members' more than 1,300 wind turbines generating some 2,300 megawatts of clean energy in the Tehachapi Wind Resource Area.

It expects to spend a total of $11.4 million on a variety of activities that will include training staff to remove attractants such as animal carcasses and doing more to detect incoming condors. The agreement also imposes vehicle speed limits, annual reporting and efforts to reduce electrocution risks posed by power lines.

"We have been implementing avoidance and minimization measures for years," Senior Director Ray Kelly of Clearway Energy Group said in a news release. "This conservation plan codifies our practices, creates a common standard for most operators and provides mitigation regardless of a take."

Director Lorelei Oviatt of Kern County's Planning and Natural Resources Department noted the Board of Supervisors has since 2009 required wind developers in the Tehachapi area to carry out extensive mitigations. Among them are the use of expensive telemetry equipment and radar that she said have successfully protected the birds from harm.

But Oviatt said by email more needs to be done as the still endangered birds grow in number and expand their range.

"This is the next step in providing long-term protection for both our California condors and the investment in renewable wind that powers California and provides important tax revenue to Kern County," she wrote.

Not everyone was satisfied the permit conditions went far enough. The Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity argued condors' slow reproduction and continuing survival challenges require supplementary risk-mitigation measures, like habitat conservation, and that more triggers should be set up that could lead to additional protections.

Last spring the nonprofit called for more than doubling the monitoring radius of the wind developers' satellite-enabled detection systems, called geofences. It wanted addition manned monitoring towers and asked that the number of condor replacements be raised to 165. It requested the agreement be tied to the additional threats of wildfire and lead poisoning.

The center wanted the government to more aggressively demand future technology upgrades by WECAT and insist on a five-to-one habitat replacement ratio. It said oil and gas facilities should be capped and removed because condors are still attracted to pumping units despite aversion training. It suggested grazing land be retired to minimize risks that condors will be killed by wind turbines while trying to get access to dead livestock.

In May the center went as far as to ask the USFWS to stop issuing incidental take permits until the effects of avian influenza on condors can be assessed. It acknowledged that no condors have tested positive for the disease but said infection was inevitable because of how quickly the virus has spread.

Ileene Anderson, senior scientist and California desert director for the center, said by email the bird flu now appears to present less risk than feared. But she noted the debate over what constitutes appropriate risk mitigation is sure to return with the passage of a new state late law, this year's Senate Bill 147, allowing the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to issue its own incidental take permits for the first time.

The law requires condor takes in activities including wind energy generation be addressed to state standards, Anderson wrote, "so it will be interesting to see what mitigation requirements will be for the condors."

Some but not all conditions requested by conservation groups were incorporated into the incidental take agreement, said Peter Sanzenbacher, a fish and wildlife biologist working in the USFWS office in Palm Springs. He characterized the groups as having an overall positive view of the WECAT outcome.

The Fish and Wildlife Service initiated the process after becoming convinced condors' geographical expansion would increasingly put them into contact with Tehachapi-area turbines. Sanzenbacher noted it was voluntary on the part of WECAT to participate.

Scientific study told the agency it takes 3.2 condors released into the wild to make up for every one killed by a turbine. The work of breeding and raising those birds will go to the Los Angeles, Oregon and San Diego zoos. The Peregrine Fund is also involved, working with the World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho.

In 2021, USFWS issued its first California condor incidental take permit, named for incidental mortalities resulting from otherwise lawful activities. That agreement, covering 126 turbines producing 189 megawatts as part of the Manzana Wind Project, allowed for the deaths of two free-flying condors and two associated eggs or chicks over 30 years within the Tehachapi Wind Resource Area.

The developer's financial contribution to the Oregon Zoo ended up paying for a new position that has already raised 10 condors, exceeding expectations, Sanzenbacher said.

A third incidental take permit is under consideration for a project called Pine Tree owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The idea is to permit the incidental deaths of up to two condors and two chicks or eggs in the Tehachapi area.

There have been no condor deaths at Pine Tree since its 90 turbines began operating about 13 years ago, putting out 135 megawatts of power, Sanzenbacher said. But a macabre worry looms.

"We think a condor will die at some point in the Tehachapis," he said.