EN11 - Location and size of land owned, leased, managed in, or adjacent to, protected areas and areas of high biodiversity value outside protected areas

[This segment will focus on land resources vs water resources, which are covered under EN 8, EN 9 and EN25, therefore, it will not include steam electric or hydro facilities on designated salmonid streams or streams with threatened and endangered species. Areas such as the Noel Kempff and Guaraquecaba Projects are also not included here, since they are not adjacent to company facilities.  However, AEP properties bordering mitigative and protected wetlands will be included.]

AEP owns or manages the land around its power generating and transmission facilities.  System-wide, AEP owns around 285,000 acres of surface ground. This includes power plant sites, office buildings, substations, transmission and distribution lines, as well as coal fields yet to be mined, lands that have been mined, residential structures, river access and various other sites.  Timberlands owned by AEP amount to over 152,200 acres and are currently under Forest Management. Not all of this land is used for timber production on a commercial basis but, instead, some is managed under the long-term sustained yield guidelines.

Land owned near the power plants directly supports the generation of electricity, serves as a buffer to these operations, and is often leased for agriculture.  AEP operates electric transmission and distribution lines throughout its service territories in Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and Virginia.  Many of these lands have no special designation, but some are protected and managed for their natural resource value.

Some of the above properties are located adjacent to protected areas or areas of high biodiversity value.  Those areas that are designed, regulated or managed to achieve specific conservation objectives, or are recognized for important biodiversity features, are a priority for conservation, or have been identified as areas of high biodiversity value.  These areas, and the adjacent AEP properties, can be categorized into the following land uses:

Wetland Mitigation Areas and Wildlife Enhancements
Wetlands are valuable ecological areas with unique biodiversity that must be protected.  Mitigative wetlands have been established near several facilities to compensate for wetland losses due to construction.  Unless indicated, the acreages listed here are for the entire site location versus acres actually adjacent to the wetland areas.  These mitigative wetlands border property at the Gavin (7,750 acres adjacent to the wetlands area), Conesville (19,830 acres), Mountaineer (2,135 acres), Amos (4,515 acres), and Pirkey (approximately 15 adjacent acres) coal-fired facilities and the Twin Branch (7 acres), Elkhart, and Byllesby/Buck (288 total acres) hydroelectric projects. 

Important Biodiversity Features
Lake Michigan Dunes Trail at the Cook Nuclear Plant encompasses approximately 70 acres that were Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) certified in 1997. The site has performed various threatened and endangered species surveys and several rare plants such as rose pink, Carey's smartweed, red mulberry, prairie trillium, water meal, and straw sedge were located. Since then, areas where these plants occur have been protected. From this protection, the plants have continued to flourish on the plant site.

AEP operates the Trent Mesa wind farm in Texas, whose approximately 9,488 acres (owned and leased) supports important bird populations.  Black capped vireos, a federally endangered species, are known to nest on the mesa’s slopes.  Their routine nesting season activity occurs mainly within the scrubby vegetation characteristic of the region, well below the turbines.  They spend the April through July time period in Texas and winter on the west coast of Mexico.  Additionally, AEP committed to three years of avian studies post-commission of the project.

The company maintains a 12kV distribution line to a Rockport, Texas neighborhood that crossed a breeding colony of black skimmers in coastal Texas.  Recent information, however, indicates that the colony of birds has relocated due to “rebuilding” of the coastal habitat.

A 345kV line between Lawton and Oklaunion, TX, is in the migratory flyway of the whooping crane and has been marked with aviation balls as a deterrent to bird collisions.  Another 345kV line runs 80 miles between the Lon Hill and Coleto Creek Power Stations, which is in the historic habitat of the Attwater prairie chicken.  Bird diversion devices have also been added to this line.  Both bird species are federally endangered. 

National Forests and Parks
As mentioned earlier, AEP operates electric transmission and distribution (T&D) lines throughout its service territory in eleven different states.  While many of the properties through which these lines cross have no special designation, some of them are protected for their ecological value.  Among these are national forests maintained by the U.S. Forest Service.  AEP operates the Wyoming-Jackson’s Ferry 765kV line, which crosses 11 linear miles of the Jefferson National Forest in Virginia.  AEP also operates several T&D lines within the Wayne National Forest in Ohio, the Hoosier National Forest in Indiana, The Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky, and the Jefferson National Forest in West Virginia and Virginia.

Habitat for Federal or State Endangered Species
The Rockport Plant property (4,574 acres) includes a one-acre area that supports the Maryland Meadowbeauty, a state endangered plant.  The Riverside (505 acres) and Tulsa Power Stations are adjacent to Interior Least Tern habitat (i.e. the Arkansas River), and the Flint Creek Power Station property (1,300 acres) is commonly used as a wintering ground for bald eagles.

The Clinch River Plant is in the near vicinity of the Cleveland Natural Area Preserve (~1,000 acres) that is home to unique habitat and rare plant and invertebrate species.  Small fragments of these habitats are located on the Clinch River Plant property (30 acres)

The Arsenal Hill, Knox Lee, Lieberman, Pirkey, Welsh, Comanche, Northeastern, Riverside, Southwestern, Tulsa, Weleetka, Rio Pecos, and Flint Creek properties (a total of approximately 20,180 acres) are located in counties that support federally endangered or threatened species, such as the Bald Eagle, Interior Least Tern, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Piping Plover, Black-capped Vireo, Golden-cheeked warbler, Whooping cranes, Western Prairie Fringed Orchid, and the Arkansas River shiner.  The endangered birds may frequent the habitats that surround these facilities.

Also see: Conservation & stewardship