Wind energy and emergency listing order for 3 species of bats

Official title: Wind energy and emergency listing order for 3 species of bats for the Little Brown Myotis (Myotis lucifugus), the Northern Myotis (Myotis septentrionalis) and the Tri-colored Bat (Perimyotis subflavus)

How does this affect wind turbine operations

With the Emergency Listing Order in place, wind turbine owners and operators on federal lands in a province, or lands under the authority of the Minister of the Environment or the Parks Canada Agency in a territory, need to comply with the SARA General Prohibitions, including the prohibition against the killing or harming individuals of the three bat species.

What you can do

The fall migration season is when bats are most likely to be affected by turbine operations, although some bats may also be affected in the spring. Most bat mortality takes place over a 6 to 8 week period during nights in the late summer or early fall, especially when wind speed is low. Given that the bats’ main source of food (insects) do not fly during high winds, these three species of bats are less likely to be flying at turbine heights during windy weather.

The use of beneficial management practices can contribute to protect the bats. Examples of the types of practices that may be appropriate include:

• changing the angle of the blade so that the blades move slowly during low winds to reduce bat mortality (i.e. ‘feathering’)
• raising the start-up speed (‘cut-in speed’) so that turbines are not moving during low winds at night when bats are flying; and
• shutting down the turbines at night in the late summer and early fall, which may be the only option for certain older turbine models with fewer control options

The Government of Canada will continue to work cooperatively with Canadians to protect these three species of bats. Stewardship activities that you would like to undertake to help these species of bats may be eligible for funding under one of the Government of Canada’s stewardship programs, such as the Habitat Stewardship Program or the Aboriginal Fund for Species at Risk. For more information, please visit the Species at Risk web site.

Permits

In cases where beneficial management practices cannot be adopted, or where they are adopted but there is still believed to be a risk of a contravention of SARA, operators of wind turbines would need to apply for a SARA permit.

Permits will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The permit may only be issued where:

• the activity is scientific research relating to the conservation of the species and conducted by qualified persons
• the activity benefits the species or is required to enhance its chance of survival in the wild; or
• affecting the species is incidental to the carrying out of the activity

In addition, permits may also only be issued where:

• all reasonable alternatives to the activity that would reduce the impact on the species have been considered and the best solution has been adopted
• all feasible measures will be taken to minimize the impact of the activity on the species or its critical habitat or the residences of its individuals; and
• the activity will not jeopardize the survival or recovery of the species

More information on the SARA permitting process – including contact information - is available on the Species at Risk (SAR) Public Registry on the Permit Applications web site.

For more information

You can find more information on SARA and these three bat species by visiting the SAR Public Registry. More information on WNS is available on the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative (CWHC) website.