DIXON – Ornate box turtles are homebodies. So if a proposed wind farm is built in southwestern Lee County, the species would stick around.

On Wednesday, an expert told the Lee County Zoning Board of Appeals that the wind farm could hurt the turtle, which the state listed as a threatened species in 2009.

The turtle is in much of the same area as the wind farm proposed by Ireland-based Mainstream Renewable Power. Its habitat is sand prairie; it is now in only a few places in Illinois, said Keith Shank, an official with the state Department of Natural Resources.