Why wildlife data matters to all size airports
Sarah Gagnon
Biologist-Project Manager
Falcon Environmental Inc.
2131 chemin Saint-Louis
Saint-Lazare, Quebec Canada J7T 1Y1
1 (514) 258-6756
sarah@falconenvironmental.com
and
Pierre Molina
President & CEO
Falcon Environmental Inc.
2131 chemin Saint-Louis
Saint-Lazare, Quebec Canada J7T 1Y1
1 (514) 386-7615
pierre@falconenvironmental.com
and
Maxime Allard
Director, Science and R&D
Falcon Environmental Inc.
2131 chemin Saint-Louis
Saint-Lazare, Quebec Canada J7T 1Y1
1 (514) 212-6297
maxime@falconenvironmental.com
Abstract: Airport wildlife data is the only way to effectively and objectively measure the associated risk to wildlife. It is unfortunate that few airports have sufficient information on the wildlife present on and around their territory, and that the measurement of risk is too often only based on strike number. Airports subject to safety management systems are supposed to measure the effectiveness of their program, but few are able to effectively do so. Such data should provide valuable insight into animal behaviour, movement patterns, and habitat usage on and around airports. However, some airports do not prioritize data collection because of lack training, understanding or even is seen as an extra task that could negatively impact daily activities around the airport. This presentation demonstrates ways to easily integrate wildlife data collection to daily airport tasks. Further, we use case-studies based on real events to explain why wildlife data is crucial for improving data analysis in airport safety.
Sarah Gagnon
Sarah Gagnon holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s degree in veterinary sciences, with a focus on veterinary public health. As a biologist, she has been working at Falcon Environmental since 2015, starting as an educator and wildlife control officer. Having field work experience, she then joined the science team and now works as project manager, leading various projects. Passionate about birds, particularly birds of prey, she has been conducting behavioral monitoring and avian inventories of protected species, and worked on conservation programs for several years while also being involved in airport research and the creation of wildlife management plans for various airports in Canada.
Pierre Molina
Pierre Molina holds a Bachelor’s and a Masters Degree in Biology from Université de Montréal. He participated in the development of Falcon Environmental Services (FES) in the mid-90’s for airport wildlife management services and continued the development of a variety of services, such as expert-counsel during public inquiries on nuisance wildlife and environment, as well as conservation programs for protected species. Mr. Molina is now the co-owner of Falcon Environmental Inc (Canada) and Falcon North America (US), also known as FALCON. Mr. Molina has provided airport wildlife training at severals airports.
Maxime Allard
Maxime Allard holds a master’s degree in biology from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), where he studied forest ecology and bird communities associated with mature forests. He started working for FALCON as a Wildlife control officer in 2006. Since 2022, as the Director of Science and R&D, he and his science team have tackled specific wildlife issues airports have been facing, either in Canada and abroad. He drafted over 100 airport wildlife programs. His main strength is about using data-driven and advanced statistical analysis to support operational changes to airport wildlife programs.