FBB members support LightHawk’s aerial conservation efforts

LightHawk was our Natural World beneficiary for the first quarter of 2013. Director of Giving Laura Armstrong shared this report about how LightHawk will use the grant they received from FBB. FBB members donated $7,760 to LightHawk last quarter.

LightHawk is grateful for Foundation Beyond Belief’s generous support in the first quarter of 2013. Member donations are supporting flights that achieve environmental protection through scientific research, monitoring, aerial photography, and educational tours. The following are a handful of the more than sixty projects that LightHawk’s staff and volunteer pilots are working on this spring to protect land, water, and wildlife across North and Central America:

LightHawk flies with biologists from Panthera to study the jaguar migration corridor that stretches the length of Central America from Guatemala to Panama. As shown in this photograph from Guatemala, the aerial view reveals deforestation that is nearly impossible to discover from the ground. (Image: Roberto Solom/Panthera/LightHawk)
At Wisconsin’s Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, LightHawk’s volunteer pilots are flying with scientists from International Crane Foundation to monitor the whooping crane nesting season. The marshy habitat is unreachable from the ground without disturbing the birds, so flights are the only way to track nesting success. (Image: Eva Szyszkoski/ICF/LightHawk)
In June 2012, lightning ignited a wildfire in the foothills west of Fort Collins, Colorado, that burned 87,000 acres of the Poudre River watershed and threatened Northern Colorado’s water supply. Runoff from the steep hillsides during summer downpours caused the river to run black with char. LightHawk is part of the High Park Fire Coalition, more than a dozen organizations and agencies working to restore the watershed. The aerial view shows the patchiness of the fire and helps identify the damaged areas most likely to impact the river. (Image: Michael Menefee/Colorado Natural Heritage Program/LightHawk)
The Colorado River tops this year’s list of endangered rivers according to American Rivers. LightHawk works with local, regional, and national partner groups to protect the Colorado River, from Wyoming to Mexico. (Image of Colorado River Delta at the Sea of Cortez by Tom McMurray/LightHawk)

Across North and Central America, from Alaska to Panama, LightHawk is flying to make a difference for conservation by providing the incomparable perspective of the aerial view. Thank you for making these flights for conservation possible!

Laura Armstrong
Director of Giving, LightHawk