Wind Farm Siting Criteria Proposed By WDNR

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource (WDNR) has issued recommended guidelines for the environmentally-sound siting of utility-scale wind-electric generating facilities. These guidelines are intended to identify and characterize the presence of resources that are considered sensitive to windfarm development in the area under consideration.

Some of the key siting criteria WDNR recommends include:

1. Wildlife Areas
2. Migration Corridors
3. Current or Proposed Major State Ecosystem Acquisition & Restoration Projects
4. State and Local Parks and Recreation Areas
5. Active Landfills
6. Wetlands
7. Wooded Corridors
8. Major Tourist/Scenic Areas
9. Airport/Landing Strip Clear Zones and other lighted facilities

Site Characterization Studies
WDNR belives that a site characterization study is an important step in considering and evaluating potential windfarm locations. A baseline wildlife evaluation should be conducted for each site under serious consideration for windfarm development. To allow comparison with other studies, this evaluation should follow accepted standard protocols for windfarm evaluations.

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