Overcoming obstacles in wind energy development - Solar, Wind and Land: Conflicts in Renewable Energy Development - page 193

with the group under which Cannon formed a habitat conservation fund
known as the Columbia Hills Conservation Fund. As of late 2013, Cannon
had contributed roughly $1.1 million to this fund. The Columbia Land
Trust serves as an institutional trustee for these monies, leveraging them to
acquire conservation easements in and near the Columbia Gorge that are
strategically aimed at protecting bird habitats in the region.
Protecting cultural resources
Like much of the western United States, the lands involved in Cannon's
wind farm at Windy Point were once occupied by a Native American
tribe. The primary tribe in Cannon's project area was the Yakama Nation.
Klickitat County itself is named after the “Klikitat” people, a federally
recognized tribe that counts itself as part of the Yakama Nation. Although
the Yakama possesses reservation lands in northern Klickitat County, the
Yakamas' ancestral lands encompass the entire county, including Cannon's
entire project site. 7 It appears likely that one of the Nation's former
seasonal migration routes crossed through portions of the project's lands.
Arrowheads and other small artifacts likely resided along these routes.
Early in the development process, Cannon wisely reached out to the
Yakama Nation, seeking their input in connection with its wind farm
project. However, the Nation initially showed little interest in engaging with
the topic. During the construction process, the Davenport family—one of
the project's major landowners—made arrangements to allow some tribal
members onto its property to gather roots and other natural plant items.
However, Cannon had minimal involvement in those discussions.
Although the Yakama Nation initially seemed almost indifferent to the
idea of a wind farm in southern Klickitat County, the Nation gradually
grew more and more outspoken and involved as construction progressed.
In particular, the Nation put growing pressure on the Washington State
Department of Archeological and Historic Preservation (DAHP) to monitor
Cannon's cultural resource protection efforts. Over the years, the DAHP
itself had grown more and more willing to assert its authority to compel
projects to avoid construction in areas it deemed to have cultural “signifi-
cance.” In one instance at a different wind farm project in the county, the
DAHP even tried to claim that an old tin can was a potentially significant
cultural resource and sought to require a developer to obtain a DAHP
permit to disturb it.
Fearful that unpredictable DAHP challenges could postpone the
construction of its wind farm, Cannon implemented an aggressive plan to
counter this risk. In particular, Cannon conducted cultural resource “site
clearing” studies as early as possible on as much of its project area as it
could. This strategy allowed Cannon to quickly modify construction plans
to utilize less-sensitive areas when unexpected DAHP challenges arose.
Thanks to this approach, Cannon was able to navigate through cultural