Life Sciences Commons^™

Integrating Mammalian Hazards With Management At U.S. Civil Airports: A Case Study, Kristin M. Biondi, Jerrold L. Belant, James A. Martin, Travis L. Devault, Guiming Wang

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Wildlife incidents with U.S. civil aircraft cost an estimated $1.4 billion from 1990 to 2010, with mammals 5 times more likely to cause damage than other wildlife. We surveyed 2 general aviation (GA) airports and 6 Part-139 certificated (i.e., certified) airports to assess efficacy of management practices for mammalian species hazardous to aircraft. We obtained information on mammalian species present on airport grounds, types and estimated effectiveness of management techniques, and effort spent on wildlife management. We evaluated management techniques relative to aircraft–wildlife collisions (i.e., incident) frequencies taken from Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) National Wildlife Strike Database and species hazard …