Del. Don Dwyer Jr. is tired of seeing contractors destroy bird nests every time they need to service a cell phone tower in his district.
“They literally just push it off over the edge and let it hit the ground,” Dwyer said, R-Anne Arundel.
“That’s something we ought to be taking care of.”
In response, Dwyer said he plans to introduce a bill in the upcoming session in January aimed at protecting nesting ospreys, blue heron and bald eagles in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
His measure would require that new any cell tower installed in the watershed be designed in way that accommodates bird nests.
Dwyer described the towers as having a platform built above the service area on the tower large enough for a nest.
Some areas have these kinds of towers, but not in Maryland, he said.
If the nest has to be disturbed, contractors would have to get authorization from the Maryland Department of the Environment or Department of Natural Resources, Dwyer said.
“My intent is not to hamper the cell industry, just to take care of the nesting birds,” he said.
In the Gulf Coast region, the concern over cell towers centers on migrating birds colliding with the wires or becoming disoriented by the lights, advocates say. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued guidelines for bird-friendly designs, but they don’t address nesting.
Ospreys and blue heron are abundant in the Chesapeake bay, according to Glenn Therres, associate director for DNR’s Wildlife and Heritage Service.
The bald eagle population has also rebounded from only 40 nesting pairs in the 1970s to more than 400 pairs today, mainly because of the ban of pesticides, he said.
There are a few bald eagles nesting on large, high voltage transmission towers in the area, but it’s uncommon for them to opt for towers as they prefer trees along the shoreline, Therres said.
Ospreys, however, will “nest on anything man-built near water,” he said.
The biggest concern for these birds is the loss of their natural habitat as the region explodes in population and construction, said David Curson, bird conservation director at the Maryland-District of Columbia chapter of the Audubon Society.
“Protecting the land is important,” he said, “and land use is important.”
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