St. Paul, MN, May 18, 2009 - The Mississippi Flyway just became a little safer for migrating birds as a result of legislation signed into law by Governor Tim Pawlenty over the weekend. The "Lights Out" law was sponsored by State Representative Phyllis Kahn (DFL - Minneapolis) and inspired by Audubon Minnesota's "Lights Out" program.
"Research has shown that every year millions of birds are killed in window collisions in this country," says Joanna Eckles, Audubon Minnesota's "Lights Out" program coordinator. "Because most birds migrate at night, they can become disoriented by night lighting and fatally collide with structures like buildings."
The law directs state-owned or state-leased buildings to turn off their lights after midnight during spring and fall bird migrations. It is believed to be the first law of its kind in the nation.
The initiative is an outgrowth of a project begun by Audubon Minnesota and funded by Toyota's "TogetherGreen" program. Audubon and its partners are working with the private sector to encourage building owners, managers and tenants to turn off unnecessary lights after midnight during spring and fall bird migration. To date, 37 buildings are voluntarily reducing their night lighting. Other project partners include the DNR Nongame Wildlife Program, Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, National Park Service, and the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Rochester-based Audubon chapters.
One of the project's partners, the Bell Museum of Natural History, oversees bird monitoring below skyscrapers in the Twin Cities to determine the number of birds and species that fatally strike buildings in the downtown area as well as which building designs are the most problematic. Volunteers have found over 90 bird species that have collided with buildings since monitoring began in 2007.
The law will require most state-owned and state-leased buildings to turn off unnecessary lights between March 15 to May 31 and August 15 to October 31 from midnight to dawn. It allows the Commissioner of Administration to adopt policies for the practical implementation of this law for prisons and other facilities that depend upon night lighting.
