Tall Structure Literature Search

Tall Structure Literature Search

Greater Sage-Grouse

Centrocercus urophasianus

In 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service placed the Greater sage-grouse (sage-grouse) on the list of species that are Candidates for Endangered Species Act Protection.

Increasing demands for energy and for aggressive development of renewable and alternative energy sources will substantially increase the need for new energy transmission and distribution lines. Wildlife scientists and public land managers are concerned these new lines will impact sage-grouse and critical sage-grouse habitat.

UWIN and our partners--the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Rocky Mountain Power, Idaho Power, Northwestern Energy and Avian Power Line Interaction Committee--initiated this aggressive project to collect scientific information and develop research protocol for assessing the direct impacts of placement and operation of proposed electric transmission and distribution lines (tall structures) on sage-grouse and sage-grouse habitat. The science-based information generated by this project will facilitate the development of consistent and effective Best Management Practices (BMPs) for the placement and operation of tall structures that will eliminate or minimize the direct impacts of tall structures on sage-grouse.  

Specific goals for the project are to identify and work with our partners to:

(Goal 1) Compile and evaluate existing published research on the effects to Greater sage-grouse due to potential impacts of tall structures.

(Goal 2) Develop research protocols for conducting new studies to assess the impacts of tall structures.

(Goal 3) Develop support for the public/private partnerships and resources required to commence the multi-state, multi-agency research identified in the protocol.

(Goal 4) Make the research results available to those charged with developing best management practices (BMPs) and appropriate mitigation measures that they can implement for the siting and operations of electric transmission and distribution lines.