Energy Development and Wildlife Conservation in Western North America

by David E. Naugle PhD (Editor), Mark S. Boyce (Foreword by)

Overview

Energy Development and Wildlife Conservation in Western North America offers a road map for securing our energy future while safeguarding our heritage.

Contributors show how science can help craft solutions to conflicts between wildlife and energy development by delineating core areas, identifying landscapes that support viable populations, and forecasting future development scenarios to aid in conservation design. The book

• frames the issue and introduces readers to major types of extraction
• quantifies the pace and extent of current and future energy development
• provides an ecological foundation for understanding cumulative impacts on wildlife species
• synthesizes information on the biological response of wildlife to development
• discusses energy infrastructure as a conduit for the spread of invasive species
• compares impacts of alternative energy to those of conventional development

The final section calls for a shift away from site-level management that has failed to mitigate cumulative impacts on wildlife populations toward broad-scale planning and implementation of conservation in priority landscapes. The book concludes by identifying ways that decision makers can remove roadblocks to conservation, and provides a blueprint for implementing conservation plans. Energy Development and Wildlife Conservation in Western North America is a must-have volume for elected officials, industry representatives, natural resource managers, conservation groups, and the public seeking to promote energy independence while at the same time protecting wildlife.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781597266581
Publisher:	Island Press
Publication date:	02/09/2011
Edition description:	1
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

David Naugle is an associate professor and applied landscape ecologist in the Wildlife Biology Program, University of Montana, Missoula.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
 
PART I. Energy Development and the Human Footprint
Chapter 1. An Introduction  Energy to Development in the West David E. Naugle and Holly E. Copeland
Chapter 2. Geography of Energy Development in Western North America: Potential Impacts to Terrestrial Ecosystems Holly E. Copeland, Amy Pocewicz, and Joseph M. Kiesecker
 
PART II. Biological Response of Wildlife and Invasive Plants to Energy Development
Chapter 3. A Unifying Framework for Understanding Impacts of Human Developments for Wildlife Chris J. Johnson and Martin-Hugues St-Laurent
Chapter 4. Sage-grouse and Cumulative Impacts of Energy Development David E. Naugle, Kevin E. Doherty, Brett L.Walker, Holly E. Copeland, Matthew J. Holloran, and Jason D. Tack
Chapter 5. Effects of Energy Development on Ungulates in Western North America Mark Hebblewhite
Chapter 6. The Effects of Energy Development on Songbirds Erin M. Bayne and Brenda C. Dale
Chapter 7. Invasive Plants and Their Response to Energy Development Paul H. Evangelista, Alycia W. Crall, and Erin Bergquist
Chapter 8. Wind Power and Biofuels: A Green Dilemma for Wildlife Conservation Gregory D. Johnson and Scott E. Stephens
 
PART III. Conservation by Design: Planning and Implementing Solutions
Chapter 9. Energy by Design: Making Mitigation Work for Conservation and Development Joseph M. Kiesecker, Holly E. Copeland, Bruce A. McKenney, Amy Pocewicz, and Kevin E. Doherty
Chapter 10. Forecasting Energy Development Scenarios to Aid in Conservation Design Holly E. Copeland, Kevin E. Doherty, David E. Naugle, Amy Pocewicz, and Joseph M. Kiesecker
Chapter 11. Resource Policy, Adaptive Management and Energy Development on Public Lands Melinda Harm Benson
Chapter 12. Community-based Landscape Conservation: A Roadmap for the Future Gregory A. Neudecker, Alison L. Duvall, and James W. Stutzman
 
Literature Cited
About the Editor
List of Contributors
Index

Editorial Reviews

"...this volume presents excellent summaries and suggestions for large-scale planning of energy development to ensure that viable wildlife populations are maintained for future generations."

Journal of Wildlife Management

"I am hopeful: the book abounds with promising hints of pragmatic mergers between research and results. And that is why this latest amalgamation of population and conservation studies, while academic and dense, bodes well for the overdue convergence of science and society in conserving our remaining open spaces and wildlife communities in the west."

Rangelands

"In Energy Development and Wildlife Conservation in Western North America, editor David Naugle presents not only a thorough assessment of the impacts and risks of energy development but also—more importantly—a roadmap of how the biological sciences community can address these risks."

University of California Press and American Institute of Biological Sciences - Joe Fargione

"The articles have a strong technical foundation, but they're well written and understandable for anyone with an interest in the subject...An interesting book, offering dependable information on one of the West's most intransigent controversies."

Wyoming Wildlife Magazine

"Dave Naugle, and twenty-three experts, have done yeoman's work in addressing interrelationships between energy development and wildlife. The arena they describe is growin rapidly in significance. This important book provides the sorely needed platform upon which to construct research and management programs and guide inevitable debates."

Chief Emeritus, USDA Forest Service, Professor Emeritus, University of Montana - Jack Ward Thomas

"Despite its title, this interesting book is not as much about wildlife and energy development as it is about unifying conclusions drawn from an assortment of studies of wildlife population impacts from human encroachment. The collected essays and research summaries are credible evidence of the cumulative negative pressures on wildlife and habitats from the full panoply of human enterprise related to mining, ranching, residential development, and, more recently, energy exploration and development.

I almost wish this book had a different title, so its important message might be more widely received. It is a call for holistic assessment of cumulative impacts across both space and time, and it should not be pigeon-holed as only addressing energy-development impacts. . . . I am hopeful: the book abounds with promising hints of pragmatic mergers between research and results. And that is why this latest amalgamation of population and conservation studies, while academic and dense, bodes well for the overdue convergence of science and society in conserving our remaining open spaces and wildlife communities in the west."

Rangelands - Margaret Rostker

"Dr. David Naugle is a professor with the wildlife biology program at the University of Montana in Missoula. He's spent much of the last decade researching the impacts development of natural gas is having on sage grouse, particularly in the Powder River drainage in northeastern Wyoming. He was the first to recommend the idea of core areas for sage grouse management an approach that has eased the tension between conservation interests and the energy industry.

His experience with grouse and energy led to this book, a collection of essays by wildlife researchers and conservationists on the effects energy development has on western wildlife and approaches that have been taken to soften those effects.

The articles have a strong technical foundation, but they're well written and understandable for anyone with an interest in the subject. Chapters on sage grouse, hoofed mammals, songbirds, and invasive plants offer a wealth of detail on the interaction between traditional energy development and the western environment; a chapter on wind energy and biofuels details the impacts "green" energy can have on wildlife and wild places.

The last third of the book considers the approaches The Nature Conservancy has taken to minimize damage either at the site of the development or in similar habitats nearby.

An interesting book, offering dependable information on one of the West's most intransigent controversies."

Wyoming Wildlife Magazine - Chris Madson

"...this volume presents excellent summaries and suggestions for large-scale planning of energy development to ensure that viable wildlife populations are maintained for future generations."

The Journal of Wildlife Management

"Conservation success requires the implementation of the scientific tools necessary to protect wildlife in the face of energy development, and the final chapters of this book on policy- and community-based conservation suggest ways to do this....The authors herald, 'With one resounding voice, the conservation community needs to indicate which landscapes are most valuable to wildlife if they expect their interests to be heard. To date, we have no such game plan' (p. 229). This book presents the outlines of such a plan. Will society use it to protect our wildlife?"

BioScience

"This book provides a vision for landscape conservation to safeguard our wildlife heritage while securing our energy future.  Trade-offs between energy development and conservation are unfolding before our eyes—and the intention of this book is to help policy makers turn science into solutions to this most pressing issue. This book speaks to a philosophy of science-based conservation that first seeks to understand how a system works and then to use that knowledge to help provide solutions."

Susanna Grimes

"An insatiable appetite for energy could be devastating to our continent's irreplaceable wildlife. Energy Development and Wildlife Conservation in Western North America is a timely and welcome addition to the scientific literature. Many relevant issues are covered by expert contributors, including the potential negative impacts of so-called green energy—wind, biofuels, and solar power—on wildlife. A must-read for all those concerned with wildlife conservation."

Michael Hutchins

"In  Energy Development and Wildlife Conservation in Western North America, editor David Naugle presents not only a thorough assessment of the impacts and risks of energy development but also—more importantly—a  roadmap of how the biological sciences  community can address these risks."

— Joe Fargione

University of California Press and American Institute of Biological Sciences

"This book provides a vision for landscape conservation to safeguard our wildlife heritage while securing our energy future.  Trade-offs between energy development and conservation are unfolding before our eyes—and the intention of this book is to help policy makers turn science into solutions to this most pressing issue. This book speaks to a philosophy of science-based conservation that first seeks to understand how a system works and then to use that knowledge to help provide solutions."

— Susanna Grimes

BC Sustainable Energy Association