Landscape Management on Airports for Reduction of Bird Populations

By special provisions of landscape management it was possible to reduce the number of birdstrikes on German military airfields; on civil airports the birdstrike situation has been improving slowly over the past few years. Agricultural use and pasturing on airfields/airports has been forbidden on grassland areas special methods of grass mowing have been practized e.g. long-grass-procedure and/or use of growth inhibitors. Large areas have been afforested with small/low woods with a high density; heater and swamp/bog areas have been promoted. So an exchange of large birds against small size birds could be reached. In the airport surroundings it was necessary to eliminate all areas attractive for birds; especially with respect to artificial lakes detailed provisions and landscape management has been carried out to minimize bird-strike risk during approach and climbing.
This article is from 'Proceedings, Conference and Training Workshop on Wildlife Hazards to Aircraft Held at Charleston, South Carolina on 22-25 May 1984,' AD-A148 330. p195-206.