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From high voltage (300 kV) to higher voltage (420 kV) power lines: reindeer avoid construction activities

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Abstract

Demands for increased energy production have initiated several new high-voltage power line projects, of which hundreds of km will traverse reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) habitat in central and northern parts of Scandinavia. We investigated area use of semidomesticated reindeer in the Essand reindeer district’s summer range (Norway) in connection with a new 420 kV power line built in 2008/2009 to replace an existing 300 kV line. We used 6 years (2008–2013) of GPS telemetry data from 5 to 22 female reindeer per season. During the construction period compared to the period before and after construction, predicted probability of use decreased on average 10 % within areas 6 km from the central infrastructure for the calving period, about 12 % within 3.5 km in summer and close to 13 % within 3.5 km in autumn. In the calving period prior to construction, as well as the calving period, summer and autumn for the years after construction, use of areas close to the infrastructure did not deviate from random. Resource selection functions showed significant effects of construction work, habitat quality, elevation and aspect on the area use of reindeer. We found no support for the hypothesis that power lines have negative effects on reindeer area use, independent of associated human activity during construction. Mitigation measures should focus on both the construction period of power lines, minimizing construction work when adjacent areas are utilized by reindeer, as well as keeping human activity to a minimum during operative years.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Marthe Lilleeng, Ole Tobias Rannestad and Johannes Holmen for fieldwork, and Idar Brandsfjell and his colleagues for very meaningful cooperation, lending us their reindeer and assisting with GPS tagging. We thank Leif Ryvarden for his assistance in translating the vegetation types. Funding was provided by Statnett, the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate and the Reindeer Husbandry Research Fund.

Funding

Funding was provided by Statnett, the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate and the Reindeer Husbandry Research Fund. These sources of funding were in no way involved in any aspects of the research, study design, data collection and analyses, interpretation of results, or manuscript preparation and eventual publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Blindern, P.O. Box 1066, 0316, Oslo, Norway

    Sindre Eftestøl, Diress Tsegaye, Kjetil Flydal & Jonathan E. Colman

  2. Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, 1432, Ås, Norway

    Sindre Eftestøl, Diress Tsegaye & Jonathan E. Colman

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  1. Sindre Eftestøl
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Correspondence to Diress Tsegaye.

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All applicable international, national and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. All animals were captured using a procedure approved by the national ethical board for science of Norway. This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

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Eftestøl, S., Tsegaye, D., Flydal, K. et al. From high voltage (300 kV) to higher voltage (420 kV) power lines: reindeer avoid construction activities. Polar Biol 39, 689–699 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1825-6

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