“Editorial: There's a place for wildlife, and it's not Jackson County Airport runways”

Editorial: There's a place for wildlife, and it's not Jackson County Airport runways

Posted: 16 Jul 2010 03:10 AM PDT

Published: Friday, July 16, 2010, 6:00 AM

Remember "Miracle on the Hudson," the passenger jet that landed safely in Manhattan in January 2009? The culprit that took down USAirways Flight 1549 was not a terrorist or a careless pilot, but a flock of geese.

Closer to home, a plane was damaged in 2004 when landing at the Jackson County Airport. It hit a deer on the runway.

Nature's not the enemy, of course, but it's not always a friend to pilots who want to land safely. That's why the Jackson County airport board took the reasonable step last month of writing a policy to manage airport wildlife.

Simply, the airport will make sure that a perimeter fence stands at least 10 feet tall everywhere, that there's additional fencing around the parking lot and that shrubs and tall grass are removed. The hope is that these steps will encourage deer to roam elsewhere.

When that doesn't work, the solution may come at the point of a shotgun. While the recent deer kills in and around Ella Sharp Park have drawn the attention, it might surprise some to hear that airport workers occasionally kill deer. Birds, too.

The fact that these shootings go unnoticed speaks to how responsible airport officials have been. With businesses nearby, they are obviously careful not to fire wildly. As Airport Manager Kent Maurer told reporter Holly Klaft, "We don't want a stray bullet to go where it doesn't need to go."

Nature enthusiasts might decry the lethal approach, but there's really no competition between pilots' safety and wildlife.

There are many places for deer to roam and birds to fly free in Jackson County. The airport just can't be one of them.

— Jackson Citizen Patriot

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