AMC has developed a GIS-based approach to evaluating the relationship between potential wind power development sites and identified ecological, recreational and scenic resources of state or national significance.  Ridgelines with high winds are identified from published wind resource data.  These ridgelines are then assessed for such natural resource values as rare natural vegetation communities, wildlife habitat, roadless areas, steep slopes and hiking trails, resulting in a composite resource value for each ridgeline.  A pilot study using the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts tested this approach successfully with a stakeholder oversight committee. This approach was next applied to the State of Maine.

This "first cut" assessment does not consider all factors that go into siting a wind power project, and recognizes that statewide data for some resources may be incomplete.Though not the final word, the method identifies ridge-lines or mountain regions with known high resource value that makes them incompatible with and unsuitable for wind power development). It also provides guidance for wind power developers as to which ridge-lines have few if any known conflicts with state or nationally significant resources.

As the next step in this research, AMC is evaluating the ecological condition and habitat characteristics of all areas of high elevation land across northern New England.  Areas above 2700 feet in elevation contain sub-alpine spruce-fir forest, which is recognized in many regional wildlife conservation plans as a distinct and significant habitat.  Among other values, it provides the region's only habitat for Bicknell's thrush, a species of global conservation concern and the northeast's rarest migratory songbird.  Wind power development within high-elevation sub-alpine forest has proven to be the most controversial ecological issue facing this technology in the Northeast.  This research will help to better identify unprotected areas of important high-elevation habitat that are not suitable for development. 

• AMC Wind Power Siting Research (from AMC Outdoors)
• Assessing Potential Conflicts Between Wind Power Development and Other Land Uses (poster)
• Balancing Windpower Development and Open Space Conservation: An Analytical Approach to Evaluating Potential Conflicts and Promoting Appropriate Siting (poster presented at the 2006 American Wind Energy Association annual meeting)
• A Methodology for Assessing Conflicts Between Wind Power Development and Other Land Uses (AMC Technical Report; pilot study of Berkshires region of western Massachusetts)
• Ridgeline Wind Power Development in Maine: An Analysis of Potential Natural Resource Conflicts (AMC Technical Report)
• Subalpine and High-elevation Spruce-fir Forest in the Northeast: An Assessment of Ecological Value and Conservation Priorities (poster presented at 2011 Northeast Alpine Research Workshop)