Best of Both Worlds
This past May, a wind farm developer came into FWP headquarters in Helena looking for information. He was planning to install wind turbines near Martinsdale and wanted to learn the locations of crucial fish and wildlife habitat he should avoid disturbing. We showed him how to find the information in our Crucial Areas Planning System, or CAPS. The system is composed of detailed computer-generated maps that identify the state’s most highly valued recreation areas and fish and wildlife habitat.
This Internet-based mapping tool allows developers, counties, and public agencies to assess the conservation value of particular locations when they begin planning power lines, residential housing, and other projects. (They could do this previously, by consulting with FWP staff—which we still recommend—but it’s much easier now.) If they know about a bull trout spawning tributary or sage-grouse lek beforehand, they can either proceed in ways that don’t harm the habitat or decide the required mitigation expenses are not worth the effort. It’s their choice; CAPS is nonregulatory. The important thing is that they have the fish and wildlife data up front, before proceeding so far into a project that revision becomes costly and contentious.
