At a time of growing concern over the rising costs and long‐term environmental impacts of the use of fossil fuels and nuclear energy, wind energy has become an increasingly important sector of the electrical power industry, largely because it has been promoted as being emission‐free and is supported by government subsidies and tax credits. However, large numbers of bats are killed at utility‐scale wind energy facilities, especially along forested ridgetops in the eastern United States. These fatalities raise important concerns about cumulative impacts of proposed wind energy development on bat populations. This paper summarizes evidence of bat fatalities at wind energy facilities in the US, makes projections of cumulative fatalities of bats in the Mid‐Atlantic Highlands, identifies research needs, and proposes hypotheses to better inform researchers, developers, decision makers, and other stakeholders, and to help minimize adverse effects of wind energy development.

Our purpose is to provide researchers, consultants, decision‐makers, and other stakeholders with guidance to methods and metrics for investigating nocturnally active birds and bats in relation to utility‐scale wind‐energy development. The primary objectives of such studies are to 1) assess potential impacts on resident and migratory species, 2) quantify fatality rates on resident and migratory populations, 3) determine the causes of bird and bat fatalities, and 4) develop, assess, and implement methods for reducing risks to bird and bat populations and their habitats. We describe methods and tools and their uses, discuss limitations, assumptions, and data interpretation, present case studies and examples, and offer suggestions for improving studies on nocturnally active birds and bats in relation to wind‐energy development. We suggest best practices for research and monitoring studies using selected methods and metrics, but this is not intended as cookbook. We caution that each proposed and executed study will be different, and that decisions about which methods and metrics to use will depend upon several considerations, including study objectives, expected and realized risks to bird and bat populations, as well as budgetary and logistical considerations. Developed to complement and extend the existing National Wind Coordinating Committee document “Methods and Metrics for Assessing Impacts of Wind Energy Facilities on Wildlife” (Anderson et al. 1999), we provide information that stakeholders can use to aid in evaluating potential and actual impacts of wind power development on nocturnally active birds and bats. We hope that decision‐makers will find these guidelines helpful as they assemble information needed to support the permitting process, and that the public will use this guidance document as they participate in the permitting processes. We further hope that the wind industry will find valuable guidance from this document when 1) complying with data requirements as a part of the permitting process, 2) evaluating sites for potential development, 3) assessing impacts of operational wind‐energy facilities, and 4) mitigating local and cumulative impacts on nocturnally active birds and bats.

A U.S. consensus-based collaborative formed in 1994, the National Wind Coordinating Committee (NWCC) identifies issues that affect the use of wind power, establishes dialogue among key stakeholders, and catalyzes activities to support the development of an environmentally, economically, and politically sustainable commercial market for wind power. NWCC members include representatives from electric utilities and support organizations, wind developers and equipment suppliers and support organizations, environmental organizations, state legislatures, state utility commissions, consumer advocacy offices, green power marketers, and local, state, tribal, and federal agencies, and agriculture and economic development organizations. RESOLVE, a non-profit environmental dispute resolution organization, provides a full range of facilitation services to create opportunities for NWCC members and other wind stakeholders to build long-term relationships, and to develop a number of landmark products resulting from significant negotiation and reflecting consensus of the Committee. Over 2,500 individuals from diverse sectors and wind resource areas across the country have participated in the NWCC's collaborative efforts.

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