Bird use, bird hazard risk assessment, and

In developing the Pickering airport zoning regulations, it was identified that a bird study was required to determine the extent of a Bird Hazard Zone in order to maintain a low level of risk concerning bird hazards to aviation. Transport Canada commissioned the 1996-1997 Pickering Airport Lands Avifauna Study, conducted by Jacques-Whitford Environment Limited (JWEL 1997), which included recommendations about bird hazard zoning around the site. Transport Canada decided that an up-to-date bird study was needed to reflect recent changes in land-use and that a risk assessment process was needed to support the restrictions that will be included in the zoning. These are the subjects of this report.

Initial stakeholders in the zoning process include Transport Canada, up to nine potentially affected municipalities, and the affected landowners. Future stakeholders will include, inter alia, the airport authority (GTAA) and the aviation industry operating to, from, and in the vicinity of the Pickering airport.

The present report constitutes an essential first step in Transport Canada’s framework to consult and make decisions with the municipalities and landowners regarding land use near the airport.

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  Be a principal reference document for the future risk information library;
  

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  Be a base-line document by which Stakeholder Analysis can be conducted during the Preliminary Analysis phase of Q-850;
  

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  Provide a model by which the frequency and consequences of risks can be estimated;
  

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  Provide a basis by which the risk control measures related to land-use can be formulated and later integrated with other mitigating measures adopted by the airport authority and the aviation community; and, importantly,
  

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  Provide the basis to measure the effectiveness of the zoning to mitigate the risks related to bird activity.
  

The report is structured as follows.

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  The first part presents a very brief summary overview of the bird-related data collected in 2001 with emphasis on changes since the 1997 Pickering Airport Lands Avifauna Study. The 2001 data suggest that a number of conclusions from the earlier study need to be re-examined, particularly as they pertain to the dimensions of the previously prescribed bird hazard zones. This section provides the context for the risk assessment that follows.
  

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  The second part presents a framework that predicts bird-related risks to aircraft operations. It categorizes the relationships between land-use and bird species so that the degree of risk to aircraft during different phases of flight can be predicted. Consequently, differing land-uses can be categorized from high to low-risk with respect to the location of the runways, and the categories employed to guide land-use in the vicinity of airports.
  

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  The third part applies the framework developed in the second part to the Pickering Airport Site. It concludes that the previously proposed circular bird hazard zones, referenced from the aerodrome reference point, should be replaced by irregular patterns referenced from the runway ends. Additionally, it proposes managing land-use some distance from the airport to deter high risk species from regularly transiting through the flight paths of aircraft operating in the vicinity of the airport.
  

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  The fourth part evaluates the proposed provisions of the ‘Bird Avoidance Clause’ of the proposed zoning by-laws, demonstrating that the proposed words are prescriptive and not performance-based, and are perhaps impractical. Use of the framework described in earlier sections will permit varying uses of land, depending on their location and their unique characteristics.
  

Recent Changes in Bird Populations in the Pickering Airport Area

Field studies of bird populations in the Pickering area were conducted from August through November 2001. Some of the results of these studies are presented in a Technical Appendix at the end of this report. A summary of the major findings and changes since the Transport Canada study conducted in 1996-97 (JWEL 1997) follows.

The continuing urbanization of the southern parts of the study area was a major feature of the period from March 1997 to the fall of 2001. This trend is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Urbanization results in major changes in the bird populations that reside in an area. However, it should not be assumed that urbanization eliminates birds; rather urbanization changes the species and habitats of birds that reside in a specific geographical area. Birds such as Canada Geese, gulls, Rock Doves, European Starlings, and House Sparrows can thrive in urban settings.
The major site-specific land-use change in the region was the closure of the Brock West Landfill on 30 November 1996. This was one of two landfills used for waste from Metropolitan Toronto, and was the main repository for waste from Durham Region. The Brock West Landfill was a major attraction for feeding gulls, averaging about 6,000 gulls per day with a peak of about 15,000 gulls in fall. These birds roosted at night on Lake Ontario, flew inland to the landfill in the morning, and returned to the lake in the evening. An important question is where did these gulls go when their main food source was closed. One possibility is that the gulls simply moved over to the Keele Valley Landfill near Maple, which became the only landfill serving Metropolitan Toronto, York Region and Durham Region. This does not appear to be the case since the number of gulls using the Keele Valley Landfill has declined in recent years. During the fall period (September through November), the daily numbers of gulls found at the Keele Valley Landfill declined from an average of about 11,500 in 1993 (Harris and Davis 1994) to an average of about 7,200 in 2001 (this study). Thus, the gulls that used the Brock West Landfill apparently did not move to the Keele Valley Landfill. Similarly, there has been no evidence of a build up in gull numbers at other smaller attractions, such as parks, fast-food restaurants, shopping centres, etc., since the Brock West Landfill closed (this study). Apparently, the numbers of gulls using the Pickering area has decreased significantly since the landfill closed.
In addition to Brock West Landfill, three smaller landfills in the region have closed in recent years. They include facilities in Brock Township, Town of Georgina, and Uxbridge (Scott landfill). These sites attracted on the order of a few hundred to a few thousand gulls throughout the year (Harris and Davis 1994, Bird and Hale 1995).
A relatively recent land-use in the Pickering area involves farming operations that can attract large numbers of gulls. These operations obtain food waste from restaurants that is re-cooked and fed to the hogs. Food waste in excess of that required for feeding is sometimes composted outdoors on these farms, essentially becoming unlicensed waste dumps. The feeding of this swill (cooked food wastes) is regulated under the Health of Animals Act through licenses issued Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada, Plant Products Division, Feed Section. These facilities are reportedly regularly inspected to insure that regulations on cooking and feeding of food waste are followed. Most hog farms feed a grain diet and are not covered by these regulations.
Bird and Hale (1995), in their one-year study (1992-93) of Durham Region, apparently did not find any hog farms feeding food waste. However, by 1996, several such hog farms were operating (JWEL 1997). For example, one farm that spread processed food waste outdoors for soil enrichment attracted a peak number of gulls of 11,919 in the last week of March 1996, and almost 2,500 in July 1996 (JWEL 1997). The farm was located on Halls Road near Kingston Road. Another farm east of the hamlet of Green River attracted a peak of 2,209 gulls in late winter of 1996. Similarly, a farm spreading food waste on Scugog Island attracted hundreds of gulls and over 5,000 European Starlings in autumn and early winter (JWEL 1997). Only hog farms attracting smaller numbers of gulls (up to ~600) were found during the 2001 study.
Several waste transfer stations have been constructed to replace the closed landfills. Some of them attract gulls. They are discussed later in the report when hazardous land-uses are identified.
Apart from the closure of the Brock West Landfill, the smaller landfills, and the hog farming operations that resulted in decreasing gull numbers, there do not appear to have been any major changes in the numbers of other bird species in the area. Unfortunately, the JWEL study in 1996-97 presented little information on non-gull species and no quantitative data on these other species. Thus, only very large changes could have been detected by our studies in 2001.

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