Wind Energy Company To Breed California Condors, Replace Those Killed by Turbines

Preserving endangered species and replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy are two of California environmentalists' top priorities.

However, renewable energy and habitat restoration tend to be heading for a catastrophic clash in the blustery sky above Kern County's Tehachapi Mountains, where towering wind turbines churn with hypnotic rhythm.

Government officials warn the critically endangered birds are now at risk of being killed by spinning rotor blades after a decades-long attempt to save them from extinction.

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Condors in Captivity

The plight of the California condor, North America's largest flying land bird, exemplifies the thorny challenges that wildlife organizations, private corporations, and regulators face as they encourage wind energy production along the Tehachapis and around the world. It also raises the importance of measures to make the system better for animals such as eagles, hawks, and bats destroyed by wind turbines in significant numbers every year.

"Our aim is to minimize the chance of mortalities," Amy Parsons, operations wildlife compliance manager at Avangrid Renewables in Portland, Oregon, said. This is a victory for condors, in our opinion."

Environmentalists cautiously support the idea.

The American Bird Conservancy's Joel Merriman said, "Having a discussion about raising condors - a poster child of the Endangered Species Act - to kill them is a hard pill to take." "However, finding a better solution is difficult."

"If wind energy and the condor population rehabilitation can't get along, we're not going to get too far in staving off drastic climate change or protecting this majestic species from extinction," said Garry George, renewable energy chief at the National Audubon Society.

California condors actually total 518, with 181 in captivity and 337 flying over Ventura and Kern counties, the Sierra Nevada foothills, the Grand Canyon, and Baja California, Mexico. Condors are nesting near Yosemite National Park for the first time in 50 years.

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