Nebraska Ecological Services Field Office

Specific Resources by Project Type

Wind Energy:

• Service Wind Energy Webpage: Discusses fish and wildlife considerations, efforts to reduce impacts and conserve wildlife from wind facilities, and Land-based Wind Energy Guidelines and training materials)
• Whooping Cranes and Wind Development April 2009
• Service Region 6 Wind Energy Guidance Documents: Provides the Service’s Recommendations for Avoidance and Minimization of Impacts to Golden Eagles at Wind Energy Facilities, Wildlife Buffer Recommendations for Wind Energy Projects, Protocol for Conducting Pre-Construction Eagle Nest Surveys at Wind Energy Projects, and Recommended Approach for Development and Submission of Eagle Conservation Plans Submitted to the Regions 6 Migratory Bird Management Office in Support of Eagle Incidental Take Permit Application for Wind Energy Projects.
• Nebraska Specific Wind Energy Guidance : Provides Nebraska’s Avian Assessment Guidance for Wind Energy Facilities; Guidelines for Avoiding, Minimizing, and Mitigating Impacts of Wind Energy on Biodiversity in Nebraska; and Bat Assessment Guidance for Wind Energy Facilities in Nebraska. 

Solar Energy:

• Service Solar Energy Webpage: Discusses fish and wildlife considerations to reduce impacts of solar energy.

Telecommunication Towers:

• Recommended Best Practices for Communication Tower Design, Siting, Construction, Operation, Maintenance, and Decommissioning
• Migratory Birds Avoidance and Minimization Measures: Communication Towers

Powerlines (distribution and transmission):

• Service Electric Transmission Lines Webpage: Discusses fish and wildlife considerations to protect birds from powerline electrocutions and collisions.
• Migratory Birds Avoidance and Minimizaiton Measures: Power Lines
• Suggested Practices for Avian Protection on Power Lines: The State of the Art in 2006
• Reducing Avian Collision with Power Lines: The State of the Art in 2012
• Service Region 6 Guidelines for Marking Powerlines in the Whooping Crane Migration Corridor

Oil and Gas Pipelines:

• Service Oil and Gas Pipelines Webpage: Discusses fish and wildlife considerations in oil and gas planning and development.  
• For all other types of energy development, like carbon capture, we currently do not have guidance documents available for distribution. Once that guidance becomes available, it will be searchable and housed on our Energy Technologies and Impacts Webpage. 

Federal Transportation Projects:

• Service Transportation Planning Webpage: Provides helpful resources (e.g. tool kits) and considerations in planning transportation projects.
• Programmatic Biological Opinion/Conference Opininon for Transportation Projects in the Range of the Indiana Bat, Northern Long-Eared Bat, and Tricolored Bat. December 2024.
• Nebraska Department of Transportation Current and Future Projects

Pesticides:

• EPA's Mitigation Menu: Pesticide users will need to plan their pesticide applications in advance to determine whether they are subject to runoff/erosion mitigation.
• EPA's Bulletins Live! Two: Mitigation requirements will appear on product labels and/or Bulletins Live! Two System.
• EPA's Spray Drift Buffer Reduction Calculator
• EPA's Runoff/Erosion Calculator
• Pesticides and Endangered Species Educational Resources Toolbox
• Service Pesticide Registration and Endangered Species Act Consultation Webpage: Contains a collection of information and consultation documents related to pesticides and efforts to protect and conserve federally listed species from pesticides.
• Nebraska Pesticide Program Website: Talks about the responsibilities and regulations of the State of Nebraska Pesticide Program, administered by the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, along with training and certification opportunities and product registration and licensing.
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Pesticides Webpage: Provides general resources about various pesticides and how EPA evaluates pesticide risks and regulates pesticides.
• EPA’s Protecting Endangered Species from Pesticides Webpage: Provides information about the EPA’s endangered species and pesticides program, EPA’s progress for endangered species (EPA’s Workplan: Balancing Wildlife Protection and Responsible Pesticide Use), and status of EPA’s biological evaluations on pesticides.

For all other environmental contaminants, like water quality pollution, and other stressors, we currently do not have guidance documents available for distribution. Once that guidance becomes available, we will post the location of the resources on this webpage. If you have questions regarding the use or application of these resources, please call us.