Switch Grass use has many benefits

  • Published
  • By Wesley Farnsworth
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  The primary mission of the Air Force is to Fly, Fight and Win, and this mission depends on the use of many different aircraft. One program used to support this mission is the Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard Program.

BASH is a comprehensive Air Force program that helps prevent bird and wildlife strikes with the aircraft which also enhances the safety of aircrews. Included in this program are daily patrols of airfields to ensure that no wildlife are present, and modifying the habitat around the airfield in order to lessen the attraction for birds and wildlife.

One of the ways Wright-Patterson Air Base is working to lessen the attraction of wildlife is by participating in a new demonstration conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Mississippi State University involving the use of switch grass.

"The USDA's primary role is to collect the field data for our wildlife research center, and then share that information with Mississippi State University," said Jeff Pelc, a wildlife biologist and district supervisor with the USDA wildlife program. "We do that by visiting each of the four areas designated for this project [at Wright-Patt] and collect bird and large mammal observations."

Funded by government agencies outside of the Air Force, this demonstration began in May and is scheduled to last for three years. The primary goal is to determine if the use of switch grass on airfields and around military airports will make the habitat less attractive to birds and wildlife, therefore reducing aircraft strike hazard risks near these facilities.

Some of the information gathered by the USDA includes the number and species of birds as well as their direction of travel. The USDA also has several wildlife cameras in place that record for 24 hours over 4-days to show any large wildlife that may be using these fields.

"During our routine site visits we conduct modern surveying techniques to observe wildlife operations in these areas," said Pelc. "One of these techniques is called the Flush Transact Survey, which involves walking a zig-zag pattern through the field to flush the birds out so we can record them."

Preliminary research has shown that switch grass doesn't appeal to birds and wildlife because it doesn't provide resources for wildlife and birds, Pelc said.

"Here at Wright-Patt we have deer, coyote and ground hogs that cause damage to aircraft if an aircraft happens to strike them while landing or taking off," said Mark Hohn, 88th Air Base Wing flight safety manager.

These animals may cause more damage than bird strikes so we are hoping this demonstration proves to be successful, Hohn said.

Wright-Patterson is located only 50 east of one of the main flyways from Canada down to the south, according to Hohn.

As the temperatures begin to fall with the changing of the season, we begin entering the migratory season of water fowl, Canadian Geese and Mallards. This migratory season brings a lot of water fowl through our area looking for a place to land and stay for the night to rest, Hohn explained. 

Hohn said that last year, Wright-Patt had 43 wildlife strikes, which is a typical year for this base. He went on to explain that about 98 percent of those strikes were non-damaging and the other 2 percent consisted of minor damage to aircraft that was able to be fixed quickly and returned to service.

This grass brings other benefits such as a reduction in maintenance costs because it only needs to be cut twice per year.  Also, there is the opportunity to sell it as bio fuel and to sell it to farmers to use as livestock bedding.

One other benefit...it will also save the lives of wildlife and birds who seek to make Wright-Patt a home or stopping grounds in their own flights to warmer weather.