Date of Award

May 2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Biology

First Advisor

Susan Ellis-Felege

Abstract

Wildlife collisions with aircraft (wildlife strikes) are a costly and dangerous issue. In recent decades, wildlife strikes within airport boundaries have decreased partly due to on-airfield wildlife strike mitigation efforts. Landscape attractants surrounding airfields within an 8 km radius have been found to influence the occurrence of wildlife strikes by increasing wildlife presence and abundance on or near airfields. The effectiveness of mitigation efforts can be increased by extending operations to include landscape features in an 8 km radius from airports. However, not much is known about the long-term effects of wildlife strike mitigation operations when conducted on neighboring properties, as well as the effectiveness of commonly used mitigation and monitoring tools. In this study, we sought to determine potential impacts of management efforts conducted at a property neighboring Grand Forks International Airport (GFK) through analysis of strike data submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration’s National Wildlife Strike Database. We also evaluated the abilities of propane cannons, lethal and non-lethal use of shotguns, pyrotechnics, and a combination of these tools at reducing various waterbird species at the Grand Forks Wastewater Treatment Plant (GFWWTP). Furthermore, we deployed an automated radio telemetry system (ARTS) network at the GFWWTP and other wildlife attractants of interest in Grand Forks, ND to evaluate its usability as a passive monitoring tool in areas of human-wildlife conflict. In doing so, we outfitted 72 mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) with two novel attachment designs of Cellular Tracking Technologies (CTT) LifeTags to determine the most appropriate design for future use on waterfowl. We found that ongoing mitigation efforts at the GFWWTP have reduced the occurrence of target species strikes at GFK, while also affecting the associated temporal-spatial factors of these strikes. Secondly, pyrotechnics were the most effective single tool at reducing the abundance of waterbirds at the GFWWTP but increased the abundance of gulls. Finally, we determined the smaller 2-g LifeTag housing attachment used in this study performed better, e.g. was recognized by the ARTS network more frequently and was associated with lower levels of hunter harvests. However, improvements are necessary to make this technology a suitable monitoring tool. The results from our study will provide highlight the importance of landscape-level management within bird strike mitigation efforts, as well as provide crucial insights into effective waterbird mitigation strategies and future considerations when deploying ARTS and utilizing radio telemetry tracking technologies.

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