ASHLAND — An Ashland County resident heeded commissioners’ call for feedback on Thursday on a proposed solar panel project.
Christina Stump, 27, a birder and conservationist from Jeromesville, gave commissioners a detailed presentation on bobolinks and other wildlife that might be affected by solar panels placed on an abandoned landfill and park along County Road 1754.
Before commissioners is a proposal by CEP Renewables to install a 15 MW solar-powered field on 61 developable acres on the east and west mounds that used to make up the county-owned landfill.
Commissioners have said they are in the information-gathering stage and not ready to make official decisions. They urged residents to provide feedback — either positive or negative — earlier this month.
The landfill happens to be surrounded by Byers Woods, a 215-acre park owned by the Ashland County Parks District.
The park hosts a bobolink nesting area. The migratory bird is considered a “high priority” species by the Ohio Bird Conservation Initiative, meaning it has a “widely decreasing” population.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources considers the bobolink to be a species of concern, which means it “might become threatened in Ohio under continued or increased stress.”
CEP claims the implementation of solar panels on the site would produce anywhere from $61,000 to $91,500 per year in lease revenue over a 20-year term. The solar field could also produce another $105,000 annually in property tax revenue.
• One megawatt of solar energy can power about 190 average U.S. homes, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.
• There are 22,513 housing units in Ashland County, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. (A housing unit is a house, an apartment, a mobile home, a group of rooms, or a single room that is occupied [or if vacant, is intended for occupancy] as separate living quarters.)
• A 15 MW solar facility would have the potential to provide energy to 2,850 homes, or about 13% of homes in Ashland County.
The landfill first became operational in October 1970. It closed in November 1997. Since its closing, the county has been responsible for monitoring ground water and explosive gases at a yearly cost of around $80,000 to $90,000.
Stump said she is concerned solar panels at the site could hurt, or remove entirely, the habitat for bobolink birds and other wildlife, which is a big draw for Byers Woods visitors.
“If solar panels remove the habitat for grasslands birds, park visitors will lose access to the thing that attracts them to the park,” Stump said. “The long-range implications of this are fewer visitors, especially those out-of-county visitors, and a loss of any other benefits the park provides for the community.”
CEP’s need to mow in-between solar panels several times per year would mean the loss of grassland habitat for the migratory birds.
The bobolink, a grassland bird that typically nests around 300 feet away from trees, is not found on any federally endangered or threatened species lists.
• The bobolink population sits between 9.7 million and 11 million, according to estimates by the American Bird Conservancy and What Bird.
• The bird’s population declined by around 1.5% every year between 1966 and 2019. That’s a cumulative decline of around 56%, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey.
• Bobolinks have one of the longest migrations of any songbird in the New World, flying up to 12,500 miles every year, as they winter in South America, according to The Cornell Lab.
But Stump argued taking away grassland could contribute to a growing problem in declining habitat for the bird and cause an overabundance of generalist species like American robins and house sparrows.
Stump said she is “not at all opposed to solar facilities in Ashland County.” Her solution would be to relocate the Bobolink population, which she said sits at anywhere between 15 and 30 birds, to another favorable site.
She proposed Avian Acres, a 300-acre Ashland County Parks District park featuring woodlands, farmland, 80-acres of wetlands, a fishing pond, and a historical barn.
At the end of her presentation, Stump encouraged commissioners and the public to join a Greater Mohican Audubon Society bird walk at Byers Woods from 9 to 11 a.m. on April 22.
Below is the Ashland County commissioners’ recorded meeting, where you can listen to Stump’s presentation in full. Her segment starts at the 16:25 mark.
