KC Adopt Wildlife Hazard Plan Bower Field

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Bowers Field Wildlife Hazard Management Plan 2 Wildlife Hazard Evaluation For airports serving turbine -powered aircraft, the FAA (AC 150/5200-33C) recommends a separation distance of 10,000 feet between the airport's aircraft operating area and hazardous wildlife attractants. Hazardous wildlife attractants are those features that offer food, water, and/or shelter to hazardous wildlife. These attractants should be avoided, eliminated, or mitigated within this separation distance. USDA WS conducted a WHE to use in the development of this WHMP. This evaluation involved 12 formal and 1 informal site visits to ELN from February 2022 through January 2023. The purpose of the site visits was to identify the presence or absence of hazardous wildlife throughout the year and identify the features that attracted them. Although the number of animals, location, and activity were recorded, USDA WS did not attempt to quantify these observations in a manner allowing for rigorous statistical analyses, such as those of a formal FAA -approved WHA. USDA WS gave specific attention to evaluating the effects of cattle grazing on airport property. USDA WS identified the presence of multiple hazardous wildlife guilds and significant hazardous wildlife attractants. Some wildlife guilds posed a risk throughout the year while others posed risks seasonally. 2.1 Methods The airfield was divided into different locations based on habitat type, boundaries, and roads (Figure 2). Twenty -minute incursion surveys were conducted at 2 points along the runway and/or a transect was driven during each site visit. An incursion survey is used to specifically document wildlife crossing the runway. The transect generally took 90 to 120 minutes to complete. When hazardous wildlife were observed, a line was drawn into a GIS (ESRI ArcGIS Pro, Figure 3) database developed by USDA WS in Washington, showing the movement path/location of the animal(s). The date, time, weather, location, species, abundance, activity, and attractant observed were recorded for each entry. Species were grouped into respective guilds, based on taxonomy. Blackbirds = European starlings, red -winged blackbirds, and yellow -headed blackbirds; Corvids — American crows, black -billed magpies, and common ravens; Raptors — American kestrels, bald eagles, northern harriers, red-tailed hawks, rough - legged hawks, sharp -shinned hawks, and turkey vultures; Shorebirds — killdeer; 2-1 31 December 2024