Abstract
Rosewater Wind Farm, LLC (Rosewater), a subsidiary of Northern Indiana Public Service Company, is operating the Rosewater Wind Farm (Project) in White County, Indiana. Rosewater obtained an Incidental Take Permit (ITP; ESPER0003552) for the federally listed as endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) and the federally listed as threatened northern long-eared bat (M. septentrionalis; hereafter Covered Species) from the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) dated March 8, 2021. Compliance monitoring is required by the ITP to determine if the level of take is in compliance with the authorized take and to evaluate the need for adaptive management measures.
Western EcoSystems Technology, Inc. (WEST) completed a post-construction monitoring study designed to achieve a probability of detection, or g, of 0.20. The objectives of this study were to: 1) estimate take of Covered Species using the Evidence of Absence (EoA) framework as outlined in the Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP), 2) provide the necessary data to determine if adaptive management is triggered, and 3) determine overall bat fatality rates for the study as requested by the USFWS for the first year of monitoring. This report presents the results of the postconstruction fatality monitoring conducted within the Project from April 1 – May 15 and August 1 – October 15, 2021.