Laserfiche WebLink
SAFER Comments on Addendum to One Broadway Plaza EIR <br />March 30, 2020 <br />Page 7 of 11 <br />The Addendum fails to disclose, analyze, or mitigate these potential new significant <br />impacts. An EIR must be prepared to disclose and mitigate those impacts <br /> <br />B. There is Substantial Evidence that the Project may have a Significant <br />Impact on Biological Resources as a Result of Window Collisions. <br /> <br />The Project as planned would contribute to an ongoing national catastrophe in bird <br />collision deaths caused by poorly planned incorporation of windows into building designs. <br />Constructing a 37-story-story building, as the Project proposes to do, will not only take aerial <br />habitat from birds, but it will also interfere with the movement of birds in the region and it will <br />result in large numbers of annual window collision fatalities. <br /> <br />Window collisions are often characterized as either the second or third largest source or <br />anthropogenic-caused bird mortality. The numbers behind these characterizations are often <br />attributed to Klem’s (1990)1 and Dunn’s (1993)2 estimates of about 100 million to 1 billion bird <br />fatalities in the USA, or more recently Loss et al.’s (2014)3 estimate of 365-988 million bird <br />fatalities in the USA or Calvert et al.’s (2013)4 and Machtans et al.’s (2013)5 estimates of 22.4 <br />million and 25 million bird fatalities in Canada, respectively. <br /> <br />Gelb and Delacretaz (2009)6 recorded 5,400 bird fatalities under buildings in New York <br />City, based on a decade of monitoring only during migration periods, and some of the high-rises <br />were associated with hundreds of fatalities each. Klem et al. (2009)7 monitored 73 building <br />façades in New York City during 114 days of two migratory periods, tallying 549 collision <br />victims, nearly 5 birds per day. Borden et al. (2010)8 surveyed a 1.8 km route 3 times per week <br /> <br />1 Klem, D., Jr. 1990. Collisions between birds and windows: mortality and prevention. Journal <br />of Field Ornithology 61:120-128. <br />2 Dunn, E. H. 1993. Bird mortality from striking residential windows in winter. Journal of <br />Field Ornithology 64:302-309. <br />3 Loss, S. R., T. Will, S. S. Loss, and P. P. Marra. 2014. Bird–building collisions in the United <br />States: Estimates of annual mortality and species vulnerability. The Condor: Ornithological <br />Applications 116:8-23. DOI: 10.1650/CONDOR-13-090.1 <br />4 Calvert, A. M., C. A. Bishop, R. D. Elliot, E. A. Krebs, T. M. Kydd, C. S. Machtans, and G. J. <br />Robertson. 2013. A synthesis of human-related avian mortality in Canada. Avian <br />Conservation and Ecology 8(2): 11. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ACE-00581-080211 <br />5 Machtans, C. S., C. H. R. Wedeles, and E. M. Bayne. 2013. A first estimate for Canada of the <br />number of birds killed by colliding with building windows. Avian Conservation and Ecology <br />8(2):6. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ACE-00568-080206 <br />6 Gelb, Y. and N. Delacretaz. 2009. Windows and vegetation: Primary factors in Manhattan <br />bird collisions. Northeastern Naturalist 16:455-470. <br />7 Klem, D., Jr. 2009. Preventing bird-window collisions. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology <br />121:314-321. <br />8 Borden, W. C., O. M. Lockhart, A. W. Jones, and M. S. Lyons. 2010. Seasonal, taxonomic, <br />and local habitat components of bird-window collisions on an urban university campus in <br />Cleveland, OH. Ohio Journal of Science 110(3):44-52.