Data base

With solar development increasing rapidly across the US, the impacts to wildlife and their habitat are often not considered. State fish and wildlife agencies, who exercise primary statutory responsibility for the management of fish and wildlife as a public trust resource within their borders and provide critical scientific expertise and technical guidance, have begun creating their own beneficial management practices (BMPs) to address and minimize wildlife impacts from solar development within their state. The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies created a BMP Database as a resource to collate existing state fish and wildlife agency best management practice documents in one standardized, searchable database. This database centralizes all existing BMPs and will allow for a "one-stop-shop” resource for state agencies to update and/or develop their own state-specific best management practices as well as for solar project proponents, and the public.

Existing solar best management practice documents were gathered from state fish and wildlife agencies by searching each state agency website and/or direct outreach to state energy points of contact to inquire about their resources. Direct links to these resources can be found in the Energy Resources Catalogue. Given that every document contains variable information in various formats, each document was carefully reviewed, and recommendations were identified and categorized appropriately based on the content of each recommendation The categories were identified a priori by technical experts and added to as the state documents were reviewed. The definitions of the categories can be found below.
When a BMP was identified in a state document, it was copied into the database (one row per recommendation) and was subsequently categorized by denoting ‘Yes’ in the appropriate category. The intent of the “Yes” categorization is to aid in the filtering and searchability of the database.

The database may be filtered in a few ways. The easiest way to filter is through a keyword search below. Alternatively, you may filter the database by using the menus below. The filter menu is split into categories and topics. If multiple categories are selected,the search will return any BMP that could satisfy any condition. For example, selecting multiple states will return BMPs for all the states selected. Alternatively, if multiple topics are selected, the search will only return BMPs that are applicable to all of the options selected.

After filters have been selected, press "Search" to filter the dataset. Additional details about specific statements, including their source, may be found by clicking "View" under the details column. To start a new search, either select new filters and search, or click "reset" and create new filters.

After applying filters, use the "Export" button underneath the "Search" Button to create a .csv, .json, or tab separated .txt file.

All the information contained in this database is publicly available. This database serves to collate and organize this publicly published information into a usable, searchable format for ease of access and is intended to be a valuable resource for states as they develop their own Beneficial Management Practices (BMP). It also serves as a comprehensive, one-stop-shop resource for users seeking information. There may be discrepancies between states due to individual state differences. For specific questions or clarifications, please contact the respective state directly. Inclusion in this database does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA). The sole intent is to provide a useful resource.

Please contact us if you have comments, feedback, suggestions, corrections, or additions to the database at: afwaenergywildlife@gmail.com