Orsted said Friday that the clean energy company plans to protect about 1,000 acres of the 1,700-acre Smiley’s Meadow from future development as construction begins this week at the Mockingbird Solar Center, west of Paris near Highway 82. announced that it was standing Completion he is scheduled for 2024.
While Orsted leases approximately 3,900 acres from landowners, the company purchased approximately 1,000 acres of Smiley-Woodfin Native Prairie Grassland to donate to The Nature Conservancy, a national environmental organization. doing.
Orsted-TNC’s conservation effort marks the largest conservation effort on record for this type of wilderness grassland and is the Danish-based company’s first biodiversity initiative in the United States, company officials said.
Less than 1% of Texas’ original tall prairie survives today, and less than 5% remain nationally. The Smiley Woodfin Meadow is the largest continuous remnant of a rare and endangered native grassland species found in only a few counties in northern Texas. The prairie is still the largest source of native hay in the state, according to Texas Historical Commission markers.
Orsted biodiversity expert Daniel Willard said: “That’s why we prioritized the Smiley Woodfin Prairie in Texas for our first biodiversity initiative in the United States. We thank The Nature Conservancy for their assistance in this conservation effort. Internal expertise. Using both knowledge and outside guidance, we will continue to look for opportunities to protect the prairies and ensure that native plants and pollinators thrive.”
The Texas chapter of The Nature Conservancy reached out to Orsted in early 2021 after learning of the company’s plans to build a solar center on the prairie, according to Austin’s TNC Land Conservation Strategy Director David Bezanson.
“They responded to us immediately because they weren’t fully aware of the resource value of the property,” says Bezanson. “How Orsted could fulfill their promise and protect a piece of land quickly became a matter of feasibility.
Bezanson said that in addition to dedicating about 1,000 acres of land, Orsted will work with TNC to explore other ways to mitigate damage to other areas of the solar center.
“Based on what I’ve seen elsewhere, panel installation is damaging and disruptive, but it doesn’t necessarily obscure the prairie when the panels themselves are installed,” says Bezanson. “Orsted asked for our guidance on how to minimize impacts during installation, and they were interested in restoring some of the disturbed and non-grass areas of the site. I have.”
News of the multi-million solar plant plans came in late 2020 when Orsted first approached the Lamar County Commissioners’ Court and both North Lamar and Chisum school districts about property tax relief. I was.
Expected to be valued in the $475 million range, about a third of the farm is planned for the North Lamar ISD and the rest for the Chisum ISD, according to newspaper files. In exchange for property tax relief, Lamar County expected him to receive $6.7 million in payments over his 10-year period, North Lamar ISD paid him $1.7 million, and Chitham ISD about $4.4 million over the same period. I expect.
Over the life of the project, the Mockingbird Solar Center is expected to inject more than $215 million into the local economy and generate enough clean clean energy to power more than 80,000 homes.
https://theparisnews.com/news/company-to-protect-smiley-woodfin-prairie-mockingbird-solar-construction-begins/article_4d9520d2-945b-11ed-9535-0bf1fcce91ae.html A company to protect Smiley-Woodfin Prairie.Construction Begins on Mockingbird Solar | News
