Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station

About the Program
The Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station is located 50 miles southeast of Harrisburg in York County, Pennsylvania. This site is an active nuclear power plant, generating 2,770 MW of electricity. The property is near the Susquehanna River and includes grassland and forested lands that the team works to conserve and improve through various projects. The team provides nesting roosts for bald eagles and ospreys and monitors activity at the nests during the breeding season. 

Practices and Impacts

• The team provides multiple nesting platforms for native raptors on sub-station and powerline structures. Monitoring occurs during the nesting season, but the team ensures the breeding raptors are not disturbed. 
• In 2016, the project team began their bluebird project and have since added 12 additional boxes for a total of 20 nest boxes being monitored. The majority of the boxes are utilized each year by bluebirds, though house sparrows still continue to be an issue with a couple of boxes. The data is shared with NestWatch of Cornel Lab of Ornithology.
• The project team initiated a new project in 2021 to monitor their site for great blue herons, green herons, great egrets and black-crowned night herons. Sightings have included green herons, great blue herons and a black-crowned night heron, which is an endangered species in Pennsylvania. 
• The team maintains 18 acres of grassland habitats in a variety of different plots throughout the sub-station to provide habitat and food for local wildlife.
• In 2014, the team began a deer management project to manage and maintain a healthy deer population to address the over population of the species. The program works to control the population of the white-tailed deer by bow hunting, as well as improving the food supply to maintain a healthy habitat and therefore a healthy herd.