I had doubts on whether the proposed wind turbine project would leave this place relatively pristine. Here is Dr. John "Jack" Owens, ISU Prof. of History,'s response:

In April, I went to see how the renovations were going on a friend's old house in the village of Algarra in the eastern part of the Spanish province of Cuenca, in the autonomous region of La Mancha (the rough equivalent of a U.S. state). Grace and I have always commented on how much the area looks like areas of southern Idaho, including Wolverine Canyon.

Along the ridge on one side of Algarra there are a good number of wind turbines that are very similar to those proposed for Wolverine Canyon. In fact, La Mancha leads Spain in the percentage of its power needs that is supplied by wind turbines (28% is the figure in my mind, but my memory may be bad). Thanks to Don Quijote, one associates La Mancha with windmills, and the western part of the province of Cuenca is just a bit north of Consuegra (Province of Toledo), which probably has La Mancha's best collection of preserved windmills of the Don Quijote type.

In Algarra, I was struck by how difficult it was to hear the wind turbines, depending on the ambient noise level. There wasn't much ambient noise level because Algarra only has about eight families who live there the entire year, increasing in population when other families come for summer vacation from the metropolitan area of Valencia or from the city of Cuenca. In other words, there isn't much about the noise of the wind turbines that will disturb Wolverine Canyon. Fear the impact of motor vehicles, especially of the off-road type, much more than the turbines.

The visual aspect of the turbines is a matter of taste. I love them and have done so since I first encountered them in numbers on ridges in the Province of Albacete, immediately south of Cuenca. I can sit a long time watching them turn. The experience leaves me in a very tranquil state. You may recall that about four or five years ago, I proposed in a letter to the ISJ that the horribly contaminated area where the old FMC plant used to sit be used for wind turbines because that would present a much better perspective on Pocatello for those coming from the west than factories belching unbreathable air. And I really do think that the turbines are pretty. But I know from working in Albacete that there are those who hate the site of them to the extent that they won't recognize how much we need them.

Viva el poder eolico!
Jack Owens