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to conduct avian monitoring and bird and bat mortality surveys at the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) in 2010-2011 to quantify local avian use in the NWTC and vicinity and to assess potential impacts to avian and bat species associated with the wind turbines and associated meteorological (met) towers at NWTC. Several different types of wind turbines are present on the NWTC with different capacities for energy production (1 kilowatt-3 megawatts [MW]; varying hub heights and turbine blade lengths) and met towers (guyed and unguyed) that vary in height (9.1-135 meters [m]). Installation of three newer generation, multi-MW wind turbines (large turbines) has raised awareness regarding the potential for wildlife impacts. In a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) review of the large turbine installations, DOE requested monitoring of avian and bat mortality be conducted, so that mitigation measures could be developed if impacts to avian and bat species are observed.

ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE REPORT 2013 6Colorado Environmental Leadership Program. Progress through the course of the year on each of these goals is tracked using an online software tracking system and results are reported annually.Sustainability is integral to both our research and operations, and we are committed to demonstrating federal leadership in sustainability and continuously improving performance. Sustainable NREL, an interdisciplinary initiative involving staff from across the organization, fosters environmental and social responsibility, working to establish NREL as a global model for sustainability.Each year, Sustainable NREL develops a Site Sustainability Plan to report on steps taken to meet the national and DOE sustainability objectives and to outline plans for the upcoming year. The laboratory has currently identified 20 objectives to enhance sustainability and continues to make significant progress toward these objectives.During 2013, NREL continued its excellent record of environmental leadership and sustainability performance. The following are some of the laboratory's key accomplishments:Achieved key short-term internal environmental and sustainability goals, and made progress toward longterm goals (see sections 3 and 4 for details).

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The primary objective of this year-long study was to update the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) vegetation and wildlife baseline conditions, excluding avian species. These baseline conditions will be used to support future National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analyses. NWTC is located in northern Jefferson County and is a laboratory center of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC. NREL has been conducting vegetation and wildlife surveys at NWTC since 1996. Prior to the current study, Plantae (2000) completed a site characterization of vegetation communities and noxious weeds, Monahan (1996) conducted a raptor study, and Schmidt et al. (2003) conducted a bird and bat use and fatality study. Concurrent with this study, Tetra Tech, Inc. is completing avian and mortality surveys. For this reason, the present report contains no avian observations. Walsh Environmental Scientists and Engineers, LLC (Walsh) conducted a separate bat study and report (Appendix E). • High species richness for small mammals indicates that the site has high biodiversity value, especially for small mammals and their predators.