Renewables-Wildlife Solutions Initiative Active

The Renewables-Wildlife Solutions Initiative-- or RWSI--develops science-based tools to understand population-level and cumulative impacts for wildlife affected by renewable energy facilities. RWSI members gather, archive, and analyze tissue samples from birds and bats killed at renewable energy facilities across the country. These samples are used in genetic or isotopic analyses to identify the geographic origins of individuals. Effective conservation strategies for renewables require information on when individual fatalities become so numerous that they threaten the stability of bird and bat populations. RWSI provides that critical information.

Want to get involved?

With support from state and federal natural resource agencies, the renewable energy industry, and wildlife conservation organizations, the RWSI is expanding to a national scale. Here are a few ways to contribute:

• Owners, operators, and contractors at renewable energy facilities across the country can confidentially provide samples from wildlife found dead at their site.

• Managers, biologists, and permitting agents can encourage energy developers to provide samples.

• Scientists can use samples from the RWSI tissue archives to answer research questions that further Department of Interior, state, and other management priorities and our collective knowledge of the population effects of wildlife fatalities at wind and solar facilities.

• Stakeholders can identify key research questions to guide future studies and generate information to inform conservation.

For an overview of our goals, methods, and products, view or download the Renewables-Wildlife Solutions Initiative PDF handout.

Contact Dr. Todd Katzner for more information.