TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – “It’s a bird, it’s a plane,” it can be messy when the two collide, but a man and his dog take on the responsibility of preventing aircraft bird strikes at Travis Air Force Base, California.
Otto, the safety dog, patrols different areas of the base with his handler, Matt Stevens, U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services certified airport biologist, to ensure the Travis airfield is safe. They do so by controlling the amount of birds in and around the flight line as part of the Bird/Wildlife Aircraft Strike Hazard program.
The 60th Air Mobility Wing Safety Office and the USDA work together on the BASH program. The program uses an integrated damage management plan that includes multiple techniques to efficiently and effectively reduce bird strike hazards.
“Our methods include habitat management recommendations, restricting flying hours for aircraft, dispersal of hazardous bird species, as well as trapping and relocating raptors,” said Stevens. “My job consists of two main parts, observing and recording bird and wildlife populations at Travis and then using those observations to effectively manage wildlife populations to reduce the risk of bird strikes.”
Otto, a five-year old Border Collie/German Shepherd mix, is a fairly new addition, but he has become an essential part of the Travis Safety Team.
“I have had Otto since January of 2015,” said Stevens. “I grew up with at least two dogs my whole life and had been missing the companionship that only a dog provides. I started looking at local rescues for herding breed dogs, knowing that if I could train him correctly, it would be beneficial to the BASH Program and he could come to work every day.”
Matt was not sure he would find the right dog for the job, but his first meeting with Otto removed any doubts.
“The day I got him, I had actually gone to look at a different dog that turned out to have been adopted earlier that day,” said Stevens. “They brought Otto out and after walking around with him for a little while and getting to know him, I knew he was coming home with me.”
After getting Otto home, Matt took on the training routine for Otto to get him ready to protect the airfield.
“He is a super-fast learner and only wants to make me happy,” said Stevens. “His basic obedience only took a few weeks, with an emphasis on skills I thought would be crucial in an airfield environment. After he had that down, we moved on to herding/dispersal skills, which he had a natural affinity for.”
With more than 133 different bird species identified at Travis since July of 2014, Otto and Matt play an important role in ensuring Travis’s C-17 Globemaster IIIs, KC-10 Extenders and C-5M Super Galaxies can complete their flying missions safely.
“Any of those species have the potential to cause damaging bird strikes,” said Stevens. “However, we focus on about 10 to 20 of those species in our overall management program because there is an overlap in habitat types between the ones we have identified and the few that frequent the area around Travis.”
Habitat modification and bird relocation are important to reducing the number of birds around the flight line and the base.
“Providing the best habitats possible in order to ensure stronger populations is a key part of careers in wildlife, however, because we want to reduce wildlife populations on the airfields, we reduce the quality and attractiveness of habitats located at Travis,” said Stevens. “This ends up not only benefitting our military with less aircraft damage and downtime, but is actually beneficial to the wildlife as they then choose safer areas to live.”
Equipped with his safety goggles and vest, Otto assists by using his herding skills to encourage birds to stay away from the airfield and, together, Matt and Otto help Travis to rapidly, and safely, project American power anytime, anywhere.