Living systems in the path
Living systems in the path.
A 765 kV corridor doesn’t cross empty ground. It crosses a Mississippi flyway, cold-water streams, the karst water beneath them, and wildlife the federal government already protects. Here is what’s here — and what the line would put in its path.
research-grade bird species recorded along the corridor — a living Mississippi flyway. Source · iNaturalist, corridor region
public birding hotspots the line and its alternates would cross or pass. Source · eBird
mussel-rich watersheds along the route — some holding up to six species. Source · USFWS Midwest mussel hotspots (HUC8)
We show only coarse, federally-published zones and publicly-mapped features. We do not publish precise locations of sensitive or rare species — that information can be misused, so it stays out of public view and is shared only with regulators through the proper channels. What’s here is meant to orient the public and point the PSC record toward questions that need answering.
Where the birds are
This map is its own resource — separate from the corridor (karst & trout) map. It shows where birds have actually been spotted: thousands of research-grade observations, binned to a coarse grid so no precise location is published, alongside the federal bumble-bee zone and mussel watersheds. Toggle any layer — or pick a single bird species.
Bird sightings binned to a ~2 km grid (counts only — no precise/sensitive locations) + eBird hotspots + the developers’ proposed & alternate routes, with coarse USFWS overlays (bumble-bee high-potential zone, mussel-richness watersheds). Source · iNaturalist + eBird + USFWS, June 2026; routes from the developers’ published corridor description.
A living flyway.
The corridor runs through the Mississippi Flyway. The bald eagle — its own federal protections under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act — is the single most-recorded bird here.
162 eagle sightings logged along the route.
Source · iNaturalist observation counts; Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.The flyway, by name
“Birds” is 206 species — and some carry their own weight in the record. A few the corridor would put directly in the path:
Cerulean warbler
Logged in the corridor during the June field day. A Wisconsin threatened species that breeds in the mature Driftless forest a cleared right-of-way would fragment.
Source · Recorded in the corridor at the June 2026 field day (our report); WI DNR (cerulean warbler listed Threatened).Trumpeter swan
Once gone from Wisconsin, now back on Driftless waters. Heavy-bodied birds like swans are the most at risk of striking high-voltage lines — especially in fog.
Source · WI DNR; collision-risk concern raised by a retired DNR biologist at the June 2026 field day (our report).Sandhill crane
A tall, heavy flier that gathers in the region by the thousands — another large bird the towers and wires would put directly in the path.
Source · iNaturalist / eBird presence.Bobolink
A grassland songbird in steep, well-documented decline — one of many species whose habitat loss the corridor would compound.
Source · iNaturalist / eBird presence; North American Breeding Bird Survey (documented decline).Below ground: water you can’t see
Across nearly its whole length the corridor crosses classified cold-water trout streams — a defining feature of the Driftless, not an isolated stretch. Below them lies carbonate karst: fractured rock dissolved into an interconnected web of cracks and caves.
A tower footing drilled into it can sit above a void no single borehole detects, and each borehole is a potential conduit for surface contamination to reach an aquifer that can’t be flushed.
Source · WI DNR trout-stream classifications; WGNHS + USGS carbonate-karst mapping; Crawford Stewardship Project (see our field-day report).Federally protected — already on the map
These aren’t abstractions. Each is a species the federal government already recognizes, and each raises a question the PSC record will have to answer.
Rusty patched bumble bee
Federally endangered. The corridor sits within a USFWS High-Potential Zone for the species — a documented federal-protection area the review will have to weigh.
Source · USFWS Rusty Patched Bumble Bee High-Potential Zone.Northern long-eared bat
Federally endangered. Clearing a forested right-of-way removes the roost and maternity habitat it depends on.
Source · USFWS (range; ESA listing).Monarch butterfly
Proposed for federal listing in 2024. It depends on milkweed — including the endangered purple milkweed found at the edge of an existing easement in the corridor.
Source · USFWS (monarch proposed for listing, 2024); WI DNR (purple milkweed listed Endangered).Mississippi mussels
The Mississippi reach is home to federally endangered mussels, and the corridor crosses 14 watersheds USFWS maps as mussel-rich — some with up to six species.
Source · USFWS species listings; Midwest mussel richness/hotspots (HUC8).One route, many systems.
150–200-foot towers and a cleared right-of-way don’t pass over this lightly. Forest clearing removes bat roosts. High lines pose a collision risk to heavy-bodied birds along the flyway. Tower footings drill into karst above an aquifer that can’t be flushed. None of it decides the case alone — but all of it belongs in the record.
Source · MariBell/BECI project description (tower height); see the systems above.Help identify what’s in the path.
The map above is built from observations like the ones you can make. Every bird, plant, and animal you document strengthens the record before the PSC — and the right way keeps sensitive species safe.
Spot & log it
Use iNaturalist or Merlin / eBird — they identify the species for you, build a citable record, and automatically hide the precise locations of sensitive ones.
Open iNaturalist →Report the rare ones
Found something endangered or rare? Report it to the Wisconsin DNR Natural Heritage Inventory — the official state record that agencies and the PSC rely on.
WI DNR Natural Heritage →Connect with us
Something significant on your land? Tell us you’d like to connect and we’ll help you get it documented with the right experts — without ever publishing precise sensitive locations.
Get in touch →Observations go to independent scientific and state channels — not a campaign database.
None of this decides the case on its own. But the Commission reviews a project’s effects on people and the environment on the record — and a single borehole at each tower, or a route drawn before this is studied, doesn’t answer it. The point is to make sure the questions get asked while the docket is open.