b'ENVIRONMENTALEYW65presents some special challenges. Keyon its land. As a last resort, it usesnothing more exciting than sitting in a West is an island, but if you look at ourdepredation (firearms) if noise makerstruck with a hawk and seeing it fly out to airport, were basically an island withinsuch as bangers, screamers, rocketgo do its job.an island, he explains. Its the largestlaunchers, horns and hazing fail to scare area of open space on this four-by-two- away birds.Complying With the Regsmile island, which unfortunately makesVariation is essential to keep the wildlifeAndersen regularly conducts it a great place for wildlife. In additionguessing. The element of surprise iscomprehensive training sessions for to birds, the airport is home to iguanas,important, Andersen says. One time,members of the airports wildlife group, turtles, marsh rabbits and snakes, whichtheyll use one banger; the next, theyllwhich includes both airport staff and each pose a myriad of risks to aircraftuse two bangers or three screamers.tenants. We take a group approach to operations. We dont want the wildlife to habituate.handling the wildlife threats we see on a One key component of the programBirds even get used to the truck that staffdaily basis, says Hartle. That includes is frequent inspectionsthree per daymembers use for airfield inspections, soour FBO, security personnel, operations and two each night to monitor the airfieldthey change that often, too.staff, maintenance workers, even our for wildlife. Reports and observationslandscapers. We go through our plan, from the inspections are added to aIntroducing Predators and then we walk through what birds and comprehensive wildlife log that wasEYW has also used falconry since Augustother wildlife they can expect to see and started in 2015 to identify changing2021. The program is implementedwhat we need to do to make sure we patterns and track program success. Ifin conjunction with Predator Birdmitigate as best as possible for the safety our staff notices an unusually high numberServices Inc. and contracted throughof everyone. of birds, they take immediate action toJacobs Engineering and MichaelThe training also details steps move them off the airfield, says Hartle.Baker International. From April throughrequired to comply with the airports Continuous monitoring providesDecember, specially trained Harris hawksdepredation permit, which was obtained valuable monthly and yearly data theare brought onto the airfield two to eightas a last-resort mitigation method in airport uses to fine-tune its efforts. Thattimes per month to chase away or kill other2019. Andersen informs the team about includes looking at seasonal variationsbirds. Handlers vary the timing of theiradhering to federal and state regulations and making real-time, data-drivenfour-hour shifts from sunrise to midday toregarding protected species. Key West is decisions to adjust management efforts,sunset, again to keep the resident wildlifea wildlife sanctuary, so birds like the Key such as increasing inspections in lateguessing.West chicken, which likes to hang out at summer and early fall during peak birdThe falconry program has beenthe airport, are protected. To help, EYW migration periods. In July, August andincredibly effective, Andersen reports.posts signs near the terminal to keep September, we pay really close attentionThe Harris hawks, Lilith and Cheddar,travelers from feeding them.during the inspections, because barnestablish the airport as their territory,Like so many other aspects of airport swallows start migrating then and theresending a clear message to other wildlifeoperations, wildlife management requires are more birds at the airport, Andersenthat the area is controlled by a predator.paperwork. Andersen teaches staff and explains. Historically, those are also theAlthough it can take anywhere fromtenants how to properly document and months with the highest level of strikes.six to 12 months for predator birds tocomply with the FAA reporting system for In August 2021, for example, a recordestablish their territory, Andersen sayswildlife strikes. Even though were doing 4,468 white ibis migrated to Key WestEYW experienced a reduction in otherall this work to make sure were keeping (100 times more than the usual amount).birds by the second day of the program. wildlife off the airfield, there are going to be Based on data from 2015 to 2023, wildlifewildlife strikes. Its just a part of aviation, strikes range from zero to two duringThe memo has been sent and theHartle says. When those do occur, most months. However, incidents increasemessage has been received by the wildlifeMariben [Andersen] does a very good job in August, which ranges from zero to 33at the airport that this is Lilith or Cheddarsof training our team on the required steps. strikes, and September, which rangesterritory, she explains. If you stepIts a very in-depth training process that from zero to 10. The majority of thesewithin the boundary, you are going to gethas created a lot of wildlife officers here strikes are barn swallows. harassed, killed or eaten. who are very knowledgeable and very Mitigation efforts at the airport includeThanks to the hawks, bird sightings good at what they do.mosquito control spraying, the use ofincluding snowy egrets, cattle egrets, larvicide and insecticide to kill insects,great egrets, great blue herons, tri-coloredUnexpected Helpbecause they are attractive food for birds.herons, white ibis, sandpipers, plovers,Being sensitive not to downplay the Aggressive vegetation management,whimbrels and, as of late, duckshaveoverwhelming negative effects of Hurricane which includes mowing grass andbeen significantly reduced. Irma in September 2017, both Hartle trimming mangroves, is another key way The falconry program has beenand Andersen agree that the category 4 EYW discourages birds from congregatingincredible, Hartle stresses. And theresstorm did Key West a big favor in terms of AirportImprovement.comJanuary | February 2025'