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Iowa City commission reviews Iowa DOT–USDA wildlife hazard assessment agreement; airport to cover small local share
Summary
Commission discussed a DOT‑USDA wildlife hazard assessment program that will have USDA field visits and reports; the state DOT contract obligates the airport to pay roughly 15 percent of the study costs.
Airport staff described a proposed agreement with the Iowa Department of Transportation under which the DOT would contract the U.S. Department of Agriculture to conduct a wildlife hazard assessment at the airport. Staff said the local airport would be responsible for roughly 15 percent of the study cost under the DOT/USDA program.
The assessment is a monitoring program: USDA personnel would visit seasonally (about four visits per year), monitor wildlife presence and behaviors at the airport, and provide a written report describing observations and mitigation recommendations. Staff emphasized that the USDA team would only observe and advise during assessment visits; they would not perform mitigation actions as part of the study.
Staff said the study would document wildlife — deer, coyotes, geese, other birds and occasional raptors — and identify options such as fencing, noise deterrents and other mitigation measures that could qualify the airport for future grants if the airport chooses to pursue mitigation work. The DOT and USDA would manage the technical scope; the airport’s role would be to execute the agreement that obligates the local share and to consider any follow-on mitigation projects.
The commission packet included the DOT and USDA agreements; staff described the item as approval of the grant-agreement-type document that obligates the airport to pay its share (described in the packet as roughly 15 percent). Staff also noted this is intended to be a longer-term monitoring program rather than an immediate mitigation project.
Ending — next steps: staff presented the agreement for commission consideration and noted that the agreements are included in the meeting packet for review.
