The CRCC encourages the use of these Best Management Practices (BMPs) by prospective wind energy developers, non-government stakeholders, landowners, and government agencies in all phases of siting wind projects. They apply to new utility-scale wind energy projects using current commercial technologies, but not necessarily to operating wind generation facilities or to projects in an advanced stage of development. The BMPs are designed to address wind turbine project areas including but not limited to the turbine string or array, access roads, ancillary buildings, and the above- and below-ground electrical collection lines. They are not intended to specifically address high-voltage transmission generation tie-lines nor transmission beyond the point of interconnection to the transmission system.

The BMPs reflect the best available science at the time of consensus approval and will be periodically updated as new consensus, science, or technology emerges. The BMPs developed by the CRCC during this collaborative process will be subject to ongoing discussion and modification and are intended to be dynamic documents. 

The use of these BMPs is voluntarily; they are not legally binding or regulatory in nature.

Colorado Renewables and Conservation Collaborative

The Colorado Renewables and Conservation Collaborative (CRCC) is an informal group of representatives from the renewable energy industry and the conservation community whose common purpose is to constructively and proactively address conservation concerns related to renewable energy development in Colorado. The CRCC developed a science-based site selection and mitigation framework that describes avoidance, minimization, and/or mitigation actions appropriate to a range of environmental impacts that have a nexus with wind energy development. Use the Southern Plains Wind & Wildlife Planner to find the priority issues that may impact a wind farm location and download applicable shapefiles and Best Management Practices (BMPs).

CRCC Participants

Conservation Community

Renewables Industry

Observers & Resources

Other organizations observing the effort and providing important contributions includ

 

 

Background This website was made possible by a grant from the Wildlife Conservation Society's Wildlife Action Opportunities Fund. Partners in states throughout the Southern Great Plains worked together to develop a science-based site selection and mitigation framework that describes avoidance, minimization, and/or mitigation actions appropriate to a range of environmental impacts that have a nexus with renewable energy development. The collaborative organization working in each state reached consensus on a set of species and ecosystems/habitats that may be impacted by wind development and drafted best conservation practices for them. Final determinations on species and habitats to include in the framework were made based on the scientific merits of the nexus between renewable energy and the species or ecosystems of concern.