An Approach to Enhance the Conservation-Compatibility of Solar Energy Development

Abstract

The rapid pace of climate change poses a major threat to biodiversity. Utility-scale renewable energy development (.1 MW capacity) is a key strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but development of those facilities also can have adverse effects on biodiversity. Here, we examine the synergy between renewable energy generation goals and those for biodiversity conservation in the 13 M ha Mojave Desert of the southwestern USA. We integrated spatial data on biodiversity conservation value, solar energy potential, and land surface slope angle (a key determinant of development feasibility) and found there to be sufficient area to meet renewable energy goals without developing on lands of relatively high conservation value. Indeed, we found nearly 200,000 ha of lower conservation value land below the most restrictive slope angle (,1%); that area could meet the state of California's current 33% renewable energy goal 1.8 times over. We found over 740,000 ha below the highest slope angle (,5%) -an area that can meet California's renewable energy goal seven times over. Our analysis also suggests that the supply of high quality habitat on private land may be insufficient to mitigate impacts from future solar projects, so enhancing public land management may need to be considered among the options to offset such impacts. Using the approach presented here, planners could reduce development impacts on areas of higher conservation value, and so reduce trade-offs between converting to a green energy economy and conserving biodiversity.

Acoustic and camera surveys inform models of current and future vertebrate distributions in a changing desert ecosystem

“…The result is declining biodiversity with rare species becoming rarer, geographic ranges shrinking and species becoming locally extinct (Randall et al, ; Sauer et al, ). Our research demonstrates the capacity of visual and acoustic sensors for collecting site‐ and species‐specific data across large spatial scales that, in turn, can be used to detect biodiversity changes, to address large‐scale ecological stressors and to inform proactive land management (Blumstein et al, ; Cameron et al, ; Northrup & Wittemyer, ; Steenweg et al, ). Without this real‐time empirical data on vertebrate populations, managers, researchers and policymakers are limited in their ability to design effective and efficient conservation plans.…”

“…Our results support the hypothesis that climate change poses a threat to biodiversity in the Mojave Desert (Bachelet et al, ; Serra‐Diaz et al, ; Walther et al, ). Thus, they also emphasize the need for land use and conservation planning that is informed by species‐specific empirical data and designed to increase the ability of native species to persist in the face of climate change (Cameron et al, ; Heller & Zavaleta, ). We evaluated the potential impacts of increasing temperatures and human development on species distributions, but we encourage managers and land use planners to simultaneously consider projected changes in precipitation, evapotranspiration, vegetation communities and free water, all of which have also been found to influence vertebrate distributions in arid systems (Illán et al, ; McCreedy & van Riper, ).…”

“…Development in the remaining area, however, could negatively influence the persistence of mammal and/or songbird communities and should be considered for protection. Renewable energy benefits the long‐term conservation of biodiversity by reducing climate change, but careful planning is required to ensure that future strongholds for biodiversity are not destroyed (Cameron et al, ; Gibson et al, ). While renewable energy development has garnered great attention in the Mojave Desert, it is equally, if not more important to account for pressures from recreational activities as this land use encompasses roughly 11 times the land area as energy development.…”

“…Fine‐grain, species‐specific data collected across large spatial and temporal scales is vital to quantifying the pace of biodiversity change, to identifying large‐scale ecological stressors and to designing land use and conservation plans that effectively minimize negative impacts on vertebrate populations, (Bellard et al, ; Cameron, Cohen, & Morrison, ; Jetz, McPherson, & Guralnick, ; Pereira et al, ; Theobald et al, ). Further, without biodiversity data it is challenging for wildlife managers and land use planners to make proactive versus reactive decisions.…”

“…Land use changes triggered by urbanization, military activities and recreation (e.g., off‐road vehicle use), alternatively, have resulted in widespread habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation in this region (Leu et al, ; Lovich & Bainbridge, ). Further, the Mojave Desert is experiencing development pressures from the renewable energy sector as California increasingly invests in wind and solar energy production (Cameron et al, ; Gibson et al, ; Hernandez, Hoffacker, Murphy‐Mariscal, Wu, & Allen, ). An understanding of species distributions and habitat requirements is needed to minimize the potentially adverse impacts of climate and land use pressures on biodiversity in this region.…”