Golden Eagle Concentration Areas and Renewable Energy in the Montana/Dakotas

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Interest in energy development in Montana has moved to include renewable energy development in addition to traditional development. In addition, the USFWS issued a rule under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act covering take permits for Golden Eagles and Draft Guidance for Eagle Conservation Plans. In order to respond adequately and provide information to managers to make informed decisions to new requests for uses of public lands in Montana and the Dakotas, information on Golden Eagle ecology is needed. Identifying and modeling Golden Eagle habitat characteristics and use at the landscape level will help understand the potential issues/conflict between permitted uses and eagle movements are a vital first steps to creating a balance between Golden Eagle populations and sustainable development. There are two main populations of eagles we will examine in Eastern Montana and the Dakotas: 1) residents, including nesting individuals and floaters, and 2) migratory birds, including winter residents, and those utilizing areas in Montana and/or Dakotas as stopover points. We hope to identify the locations, extents, and importance of areas in this region for these populations of Golden Eagles to add to our current knowledge of nesting locations. Potential products include nest location models, concentration area models, increased bird and important location information, basic ecology differences between resident and migratory populations, and recommendations to avoid impacts to Golden Eagles from development in the Northwestern Great and Glaciated Plains. Successful applicant must currently have or demonstrate the ability to obtain applicable federal and state Scientific Collecting permits.

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