Eareckson Air Station (AS) on Shemya Island is strategically located on the far eastern end of Alaska’s Aleutian archipelago. The frequent use of aircraft at this installation poses unique conflicts between the natural resources of the island and maintaining mission readiness and human/aircraft safety. Sikes Act Section 101(a) (16 U.S. Code 670a(a)) requires that Department of Defense (DoD) installations prepare Integrated Natural Resources Management Plans (INRMP) to conserve and rehabilitate natural resources on military installations and ensure that activities on the installations are integrated and consistent with environmental stewardship, laws and regulations, and the military mission. Accordingly, the DoD formed the Strategic Plan for Bird Conservation and Management on Department of Defense Lands (DoD Natural Resources Program 2014). This plan aims to conserve migratory and resident birds and their habitats on DoD lands while maintaining mission readiness with access to land, air, and water resources for military training and testing. One part of this plan is the Bird-Wildlife Aircraft Strike Hazard (BASH) prevention program, which aims to reduce the risk of bird-aircraft collisions for airfield managers. Understanding the spatial and temporal distributions of high-risk BASH species around the airfield at Eareckson AS is a critical tool to helping airfield’s manage birds and habitats in a way that provides the safest flying conditions possible. Beginning in 2020, the USFWS partnered with USAF 611th Civil Engineering Squadron to evaluate, improve, and conduct a wildlife survey monitoring program at Eareckson AS. The goals of this program are to investigate and monitor BASH risk, inventory and monitor wildlife, and proactively address wildlife concerns that could impact mission readiness.
