Staff Development Progress Report, 5/6/08
Nan Ho
Close to Home Workshop Series
May 08- April 09
The Close to Home Workshop Series began on Monday May 5 and runs through April of 2009.
Note: Since this series of lectures and field trips spans two fiscal years for Las Positas, and has a total cost of over 8700, I have requested from and been approved by the Staff Development committee that I apply both my 5300 Staff Development allocation for 0708 and my 8300 allocation for 08-09. It is understood that I will submit another Staff
Development application in Fall 08 to make sure the paperwork is in order.
As requested by the committee, I am submitting this progress report for the 07-08 fiscal year, and requesting partial reimbursement of the total cost of the year-long program. I will request the remaining reimbursement when the program ends in Spring 09.
The speaker for the first of this series was Dr. Brian Latta of the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group. fie presented data from his studies on the effect of the Altamont windmills on 4 key raptor species (Golden Eagle, Red-Tailed Hawk, Burrowing Owl, and American Kestrel). His talk included a discussion on field methods, data analysis, and interpretation of 2 years of studies, plus a preliminary look at research that will be published this month. Dr. Latta also presented results from attempted mitigation measures, such as shutting down of large strings of windmills for extended periods, as well as focused shutdowns of the turbines associated with the greatest number of fatalities. Dr. Latta also brought his golden eagle, Lola, and there was much discussion of her behavior, imprinting on humans, and her livelihood.
The best part or this workshop was learning detailed information about the real windmill effects on raptors. Thousands of birds die each year in these turbines, and it is a difficult problem to address since wind power is ecologically important, and so are raptor species. The discussion was rich, with many questions from the audience (of over 100).
Additionally, I met most of the group of 15 that is participating in this year-long workshop during a pre-talk meeting.
I will easily be able to share this information with my students, especially my Zoology students. This is a highly visible windmill farm, and discussion of the behavior of raptors and why that puts them at risk will be a real-life example to support lectures.