Wind Power Project Offers Sage Grouse Conservation Plan

April 20th, 2010 • Filed Under
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By Matt Joyce/AP

CHEYENNE — The developer of a proposed southern Wyoming wind farm is seeking federal approval of a conservation deal that could help the project move forward in an area that’s also home to sage grouse.

The Power Company of Wyoming wants to build a 1,000-turbine wind farm on part of a 486-square-mile cattle ranch near Rawlins. Denver-based Anschutz Corp. owns the Power Company and the ranch, which is a mixture of private and federal lands.

To build the project, the company must address concerns related to the sage grouse. More than half of the project site overlaps with “core” habitat area designated by the state for special protection. Also, the Interior Department last month made the bird a candidate for federal endangered species protection.

The Power Company of Wyoming says its conservation plan, which also covers the Wyoming pocket gopher and the northern leopard frog, is meant to offset the impacts of wind development and ranching on the three species, and even provide a net conservation benefit.

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