Related Sites

• Wind Energy in California and Energy Commission Reports on Wind
• California Wind Energy Collaborative
• Western Bat Working Group wind energy page
• American Wind Energy Association
• Federal Wind Turbine Guidelines Advisory Committee
• National Wind Coordinating Committee
• National Renewable Enery Laboratory

California Guidelines for
Reducing Impacts to Birds and Bats from Wind Energy Development

On September 26, 2007, the California Energy Commission approved the voluntary California Guidelines for Reducing Impacts to Birds and Bats from Wind Energy Development. The California Energy Commission, working with the California Department of Fish and Game, developed this document to provide recommendations on methods to assess bird and bat activity at proposed wind energy sites; design pre-permitting and operations monitoring plans; and develop impact avoidance, minimization, and mitigation measures. The methods described in the Guidelines are suggestions for local permitting agencies to use at their discretion and as a resource for other parties involved in the permitting process.

Final Guidelines

Download copy of final Guidelines:

California Guidelines for Reducing Impacts to Birds and Bats From Wind Energy Development - Final Commission Report
(Acrobat PDF file, posted October 23, 2007, 165 pages, 6.9 megabytes - Note file size!)

Download copy of final report MINUS Appendix E
(Acrobat PDF file, posted October 23, 2007, 137 pages, 1.2 megabytes)

Training and Outreach

• Training Information for regional California Department of Fish and Game staff on implementation of the Guidelines.

BIOS Data Submission

To submit bird or bat data and monitoring reports to the California Department of Fish and Game's BIOS (Biogeographic Information and Observation System), please send electronic data (smaller than 8 megabytes) to biology@energy.state.ca.us.

Data sets larger than 8 MB should be mailed as a Zip filed on a CD to:

Please identify the data as belonging to the "California Wind Energy Biological Database" and specify any viewing restrictions (see http://bios.dfg.ca.gov/submitting_data.asp for details.

More Information

For more information regarding the Guidelines, or to provide comments on this document, please contact:

Members of the News Media: Please contact Assistant Executive Director Claudia Chandler at 916-654-4989, E-mail: mediaoffice@energy.state.ca.us