Date: June 2, 2016
Source: Texas Tech University
In the avian world, the eagle is
known as the apex predator, meaning no other bird considers an eagle its prey.
The eagle is on the top of the avian food chain.
But that doesn't mean they live
without dangers, most of them humanmade. There's one humanmade danger in
particular that Texas Tech University professor Clint Boal is working with
several governmental agencies to discover ways to mitigate golden eagle deaths
as much as possible.
With the push toward clean
energy, West Texas and Eastern New Mexico have seen a tremendous growth in the
popularity and construction of wind turbine farms. But those farms, while
essential to ending the United States' dependency on fossil fuels, have created
a danger for the golden eagle in the same areas.
"Wind energy development
throughout the western U.S. is ongoing and rampant, and it is an important
renewable energy source and we all recognize that," said Boal, a professor
in the Department of Natural Resources Management in the College of
Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources. "But it doesn't come
without some ecological cost that can be either displacement of wildlife or the
direct mortality of wildlife. If the species is really abundant, it may not be
a substantive issue. But when you have a species that is not as abundant, has a
long life span, and has low productivity, it does become an issue."
That's why the research Boal and
his colleagues are performing is so important. Boal, a member of the United
States Geological Survey's Cooperative Research Unit at Texas Tech, along with
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Region 2 office and its Western Golden
Eagle Team, are in the process of studying golden eagle movements and potential
interactions with wind turbines.
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