Wildlife Management

Sea-Tac Airport's Comprehensive Program for Wildlife Management

Protecting both aircraft and animals

Latest News

Another First for Sea-Tac - Avian Radar

Watch a Video about Wildlife Management at Sea-Tac Airport

Like most airports, Sea-Tac has large tracts of open, improved land that provide an added buffer for both safety and noise mitigation. But these areas also provide an appealing home for animals. Wildlife and airplanes don't mix ... in fact, they're a downright dangerous combination.

Sea-Tac Airport has a comprehensive wildlife management program that makes the airport area less attractive for certain wildlife species, thus ensuring a safe environment for aviation and passengers.

Large flocking birds -- especially waterfowl and gulls -- are a major concern, although other birds and mammals can also be problematic. Nationwide, aircraft-wildlife strikes are the second leading cause of aviation fatalities (FAA 2003 data) and account for more than 40 percent of the foreign object debris (FOD) damage sustained by aircraft. Estimated damages to aviation from wildlife strikes exceed $300 million annually for just U.S. carriers.

Sea-Tac Airport, First in United States to Employ a Full-time Wildlife Biologist

In the 1970s, we were the first U.S. airport to employ a full-time biologist and to develop an ecological approach to maintaining aviation safety and protecting wildlife. This position has evolved to promote wildlife conservation of certain non-hazardous species as well.

Bird Radar Systems Now at Sea-Tac

In August 2007, Sea-Tac became the world's first airport to use avian radar in a long-term monitoring effort to detect potentially hazardous bird activity on and near an airport. In close collaboration with the University of Illinois, Center of Excellence for Airport Technology (CEAT), Sea-Tac now uses three Sicom-Accipiter radars continuously like a powerful pair of eyes that see much farther and higher than human observers, who are limited to viewing only during daylight hours. This technology has been of great benefit in monitoring wildlife over potentially hazardous attractants on and near the airport, a task that would have been extremely costly or impossible if done with only human observers.

In 2006, with the assistance of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grant funding, CEAT began validation testing of avian radars to determine how best this technology could be used by airport operators to reduce the likelihood of an aircraft-bird collision. Click here to see a graphic that provides an overview of the area being sampled by two of the three avian radars at Sea-Tac.

The avian radar validation testing program is expected to be expanded to several other airports around the country in 2009.

Two Basic Tenets Guide Our Wildlife Hazard Management Plan (10 MB PDF)

Maximize Safety Now - Ongoing observation to monitor wildlife activity and disperse hazardous populations from the airfield.
Minimize Future Risk - Reducing or eliminating features that attract wildlife.

Reducing Attractants

The best way to serve the dual and sometimes competing goals of protecting both passengers and wildlife is to reduce or eliminate the features that draw wildlife to the airport area:

Raptor Strike Avoidance Program. Hawks and owls can be extremely hazardous to aircraft. In 2001, a program was developed to relocate young raptors to safer environments. Since that time, more than 200 raptors have been successfully live-trapped and relocated to an area of high quality raptor habitat in northern Washington. Territorial adult hawks are scared away from the runways, but generally not relocated because these birds are more "airport savvy" and likely help to keep transient hawks away. More information on this program.
Wildlife Deterrent Fencing. Although expensive, the airport fence is now buried underground to keep animals from digging onto the airfield. See a photo and more information.
Approved Plant List and Planting Zones Only plants of minimal interest to wildlife are used for landscaping. All plant varieties that produce fruits, nuts and berries are prohibited.
Taste Aversion Plantings. Sea-Tac has developed an exclusive grass seed mix that contains a fungus to make it less palatable to some birds and insects, which can attract hazardous wildlife. This mix is specially formulated to reduce erosion by establishing itself quickly after hydroseeding. (More information)
Scrub-Shrub Plantings. In wetlands areas that need special protection, a dense canopy of bushes and other vegetation is planted to prevent large flocking birds from feeding and nesting at these sites.
Exclusion Devices. The Port has a substantial investment in netting to keep waterfowl out of airport ponds and other water features. (Bird-proof roof)