Lighthawk

Research and management: land, water and wildlife: 41% of this fiscal year. Lighthawk flights supported land trust oversight and management throughout the us through easement monitoring and evaluation of land for acquisition feasibility and providing compliance and other information otherwise not accessible. Lighthawk flights informed research studies on coastal sea level changes, and other major water areas like the delaware and colorado rivers. Lighthawk flights provided otherwise unavailable data toward annual counts of salmon, various endangered bird species, algal blooms and invasive plant growth, and riparian water rights issues.

Wildlife transport: 25% of this fiscal year. When covid shut down almost all commercial aviation, it also halted the species transport that some of the major airlines assisted in. This past year saw unprecedented need for moving endangered animals like mexican wolves, masked bobwhite quail and white abalone. For wolves, re-denning pups from conservation breeding centers to new foster mothers in the wild is a critically timed event and lighthawk flights were crucial to the success of these relocation efforts.