How Windfarms & Wildfires affect Wildlife

The Parry Sound 33 wildfire that swept through a large windfarm in 2018 near highway 69 and the shores of Georgian Bay created an important opportunity for Aidan Maloney, currently the lead species at risk biologist, Wasauksing First Nation.

He recently told members of the Parry Sound Nature Club that he was able to research how frogs and snakes, species already facing global decline, survive on a site uniquely affected by wildfire as well as the construction and maintenance of wind energy facilities.

Windfarm Potential Impacts

Global capacity for wind energy has more than tripled since 2021. The death toll of birds and bats due to collisions with wind farm turbines is well documented by researchers. But wind farms also hold potential to affect frogs and reptiles for several reasons:

• The construction of service roads, turbine pads, and transmission lines on large areas of land destroy natural habitats.

• Road construction and traffic are dangerous for slow-moving species like snakes and frogs.

• Wind turbines generate continuous noise at frequencies that compete with male frog and toad mating calls, potentially resulting in decreased breeding success.

• The flicker of turbine blades and ground vibrations could affect the behavior of frogs and snakes.

Wildfires Potential Impacts

Natural wildfires reshape ecosystems in ways that benefit certain species. They can open habitats for sun-loving reptiles or instigate germination cues for some types of plants such as jack pine. Furthermore, frogs can survive in wetlands, while snakes can take refuge under rocks or logs.

But how will these creatures fare now that wildfire frequency and severity are on the rise globally due to climate change and human activity, especially in environments that include human-made structures?

Research & Findings

Aidan studied the calls of frog communities in four different habitats – areas affected by wildfires, areas affected by windfarms, areas of windfarms burned by wildfires, and

unaffected control areas. He also spent more than six hundred hours in each habitat type surveying snake communities. Species like the smooth green snake, which depend on dense vegetation and insect prey, were his indicators of habitat health.

Wetlands near turbines had fewer frog species and fewer numbers of frogs. The calls of male frogs that vocalize at lower frequencies got longer and were lower in pitch. This suggests that turbine noise disrupts these species’ calling behaviour and could therefore have hindered the females’ abilities to locate mates.

Frogs that vocalized at high frequencies comparable to turbine noise frequencies, such as spring peeper, were unaffected by the wind turbine noise. Wildfire alone did not appear to affect frog communities, likely because wetlands provided refuge during burns.

Total snake abundance was lower in areas affected by both windfarms and wildfire. This suggests that snake populations already stressed by one disturbance may struggle to recover from another. Construction and maintenance of windfarm infrastructure made snake populations more vulnerable to the additional stress of fire. There were no significant differences in overall snake richness or body condition in the control, wildfire, and windfarm areas.

Looking Forward

Wind energy is an important energy option in the transition away from fossil fuels, and wildfires are an essential component of species survival in many ecosystems. We can protect ecosystems more effectively by taking a mutually beneficial path for both renewable energy and wildlife conservation. Some suggestions include:

• placing turbines away from critical wetlands,

• adjusting turbine operations during peak breeding seasons, and/or

• restoring habitats destroyed by burns.