The marsh harrier is a medium-sized bird of prey that is relatively rare and lives mainly in wetlands, moors and reed beds. Male marsh harriers can be recognized by their black wing tips, light gray wings and brown body. The females, on the other hand, are uniformly brown. According to the Federal Nature Conservation Act, marsh harriers are among the bird species at risk of collision. This means that wind turbines are a great danger to them. Bird conservationists fear that the marsh harrier could become even rarer in Bavaria if more and more wind turbines are set up here.
To prevent this, the State Office for the Environment (LfU), which is responsible for bird protection in Bavaria, has now identified so-called population density centers for the marsh harrier. These are the areas in Bavaria where a comparatively large number of breeding pairs live. The density centers are an “orientation aid for the regional planning associations,” says an LfU spokesman, when they now designate priority areas for wind power throughout the Free State. Density centers should be kept free of wind turbines.
With the density centers and the corresponding maps, “we ensure the accelerated processing of species protection when designating priority areas for wind power,” says the LfU man. The emphasis is on the word “accelerated”. According to federal guidelines, the Free State must make 1.8 percent of the state’s area available for the expansion of wind power by 2032. The procedures for this are just beginning. So time is running out.
Especially since the marsh harrier is not the only bird species at risk of collision that must be taken into account when expanding wind power. The LfU has also established population density centers for the sea eagle, the osprey, the eagle owl, the honey buzzard and seven other native breeding bird species. The two most famous are the white stork and the red kite. The expansion of wind power should happen “in harmony with people, nature and species protection,” says the LfU spokesman. The density centers and the associated maps “represent an essential technical basis”.
“Unbalanced concept”
There is sharp opposition from the wind power scene. Bernd Wust from the BWE industry association speaks of an “unbalanced concept” and “prevention planning” that is once again delaying the overdue expansion of wind power. It is fundamentally correct to define areas in which bird protection takes priority over wind power. “But the LfU’s approach to the density centers is absolutely incomprehensible.”
Wust’s allegations in detail: Some of the data for the density centers are more than 30 years old, some of them contradict current studies, and others are incomplete. According to Wust, the respective density centers for the peregrine falcon and the eagle owl only comprise half of the breeding population in Bavaria; for the tree falcon they only represent 15 to 25 percent of the population. This only creates new uncertainties among planning associations and in the wind power industry. However, further delays in expansion can no longer be afforded.
The State Association for Bird and Nature Conservation (LBV) understands the wind power industry. “The criticism of the incomplete and outdated data base is correct,” says the organization’s top species conservationist, Andreas von Lindeiner. “But that’s not the LfU’s fault.” The experts there do not have any newer or more complete data. Because they lack the staff and money for this.
That’s why the LfU “scraped together everything that was available to them” and – as Lindeiner actually says – “developed a relatively useful instrument” to protect at least parts of the bird population in Bavaria at risk of collision. Lindeiner’s demand is therefore not only “more and better bird mapping” in Bavaria, but also sufficient staff for the LfU so that the authority can achieve this.