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Western crew shows concern for local wildlife

An young owl hangs precariously on one of Western’s tower north of Prescott. (Courtesy of Dick Clark)

Efforts last month to save a fledgling owl stuck precariously in the crevice of a Western Area Power Administration tower near Prescott, Ariz., symbolized Western’s extraordinary dedication to environmental stewardship.

On Mother’s Day, Richard Clark—a retired college biology professor and owl expert— saw the baby great horned owl hanging upside down with a leg wedged in the tower arm. His desperate calls for help eventually reached Desert Southwest Regional Maintenance Manager Stan Spencer, who immediately dispatched Line Foreman Ronnie Martinez and Linemen Todd Murray and David Katich to the Davis-to-Prescott 230-kV line to rescue the owl. 

I sent crews out immediately. We want to be good stewards of the land,” Spencer said.

The crew used a bucket truck to reach the owl while it was hanging about 80 feet in the air, without touching the energized line. After putting it in a cardboard box, Katich knocked down the nest at Clark's request to prevent owls from nesting there again.

It’s not a common spot for them to nest,” said Spencer. “For some reason, these particular owls chose that location. They hadn’t nested there on previous occasions. If nesting continues there, it’s possible we could put up a separate nesting pole as Western has done in other locations.”

The crew then transported the owl to the Liberty Wildlife Rehabilitation Foundation in Phoenix. While his almost severed leg was successfully re-attached on May 14, the owl was euthanized because the vet couldn’t re-establish circulation to the foot.  “All of this was after the super effort on the part of Western to save the bird,” said Clark.

Great horned owls took over this red-tailed hawk’s nest perched on Western’s structure.

Spotted at just the right time

The owl was lucky that he was in a position to be spotted by Clark, an award-winning owl enthusiast whose doctoral dissertation was based on short-eared owls, who edited and wrote countless articles for scientific journals and made numerous presentations at scientific meetings worldwide about owls. He also was the senior editor for the Working Bibliography on Owls of the World, which included 6,590 citations for all the known owl publications around the world and required 11 years to complete. He was inducted into the World Owl Hall of Fame in 2008.

Clark, who lives less than two miles from the tower location, had been watching the progress of a great horned owl nest atop Western’s tower along Williamson Valley Road north of Prescott since April 20. He noticed that the parents produced three fledgling owls, but two of them had disappeared and he wasn't sure about their fate.

After getting in touch with the local utility, Clark learned that the structure belonged to Western. He drove to the substation and found Western’s emergency phone number on the fence, where he was able to first talk with Norbert Schmidt, the Western dispatcher on duty, about the situation. Then as the crew helped get the owl down, Clark was right there watching the process. “The WAPA people did a great job,” said Clark. “They’re real pros, and I felt quite comfortable having them take the bird down.”

Obviously very grateful for the efforts to save this owl’s life, Clark e-mailed Martinez to thank him for the crew’s help. He said, “First a great big thank you, on behalf of the great horned owlet and myself, for the splendid spirit of cooperation and your can-do attitude.”