Monday, August 14, 2006


Tug Hill Windmills and wildlife

We keep hearing more and more noise about the windmills on Tug Hill and how they are driving the deer and turkeys away and destroying the geese and other flying birds. In my opinion, it is all a lot of wind, and I don't mean from the windfarm. My own very unscientific observations show that the deer and turkeys are totally unaffected, except that the grass planted under those towers is very tasty.
As I see it, they treat the windmill the same as a tree or any other object in their neighborhood. Same with the geese. They graze around the windmills, but they are no more likely to fly into one than into a tree or a power pole. They may be silly geese, but not stupid. I have photos of deer grazing under the towers, but I also have photos of the towers with no deer grazing 'neath them. The latter might be proof that the deer have all been driven out. But no, we are seeing more deer , turkeys, and geese around than most years. Draw your own conclusions.
I say that the windfarms do not really have a large impact on the environment, wildlife, or the energy supply, and the antis need to find someone else to attack. The choices are numerous: Big Oil, The Government, The War(s), Big Business, Taxes, The National Debt (wait til your grandkids see that bill). I think if the windmills had any large impact, the Oil Barons, that monster known as ExxonMobilBPValeroShell, would have toppled them long ago. (And what is up with the Alaska oil fields? They are run by British Petroleum and the oil is shipped to Japan?)
The deer and turkeys? Well, they are undecided, but they are certainly not leaving the neighborhood.

3 comments:

Tom Gray said...

Thanks, sounds plausible enough to me. Geese very rarely collide with wind turbines elsewhere, and I would be surprised if turkeys are not smart enough to figure them out too.

The latest gripe from Tug Hill has been about sound. Do you have any opinion on that? Just curious.

Regards,
Thomas O. Gray
American Wind Energy Association
www.awea.org
www.ifnotwind.org

deerjohn said...

Thanks for your visit. I'm not sure what sounds they talk about, but from my observations, the noise compares to the sound of wind thru the trees-kind of pleasant actually. Of course, I have not had the pleasure of living with them 24/7, but people and animals can adjust to most anything. Some folks even live next to major superhighways and airports, and don't seem to mind the noise.
We have not noted any sonic waves or untrasounds; no blades flying off; no animals fleeing the area. We do note a lot of tourists and curious visitors-maybe that is what scares wildlife away?
Last friday I had a retailer from Lowville deliver some building materials to our camp. He looked around at the windmills for a while, then remarked: "Why, they are not noisy at all! What are people complaining about?" So there you are.

Tom Gray said...

I don't really know of any evidence to suggest that they "scare wildlife away." There IS some concern about big game wintering habitat in the West, but it's still just at the point of needing study rather than being identified as a problem. Regarding sound, your experience tracks with mine. I've visited many wind farms and have never been to one that seemed noisy.

Regards,
Thomas O. Gray
American Wind Energy Association
www.awea.org
www.ifnotwind.org