Our Priorities
Why we fly
LightHawk flies for the landscapes, wildlife, and waters that define North America,
and for the people and communities who depend on them.
Where We Focus
Five priorities. One perspective.
LightHawk’s conservation team plans and coordinates every mission with partners and volunteer pilots, turning flights into real conservation results across five focus areas.
Landscapes
Using aviation to to protect ecologically important landscapes and reveal the changes shaping them.
Explore Landscapes
Watersheds
From water-quality monitoring to habitat restoration, using flight to protect the rivers and wetlands that keep ecosystems alive.
Explore Watersheds
Oceans & Coastlines
Taking flight to protect oceans, coastlines, and the rich biodiversity they sustain.
Explore Oceans & Coastlines
Wildlife
A lifeline for endangered species — from safe wildlife transport to aerial tracking and habitat connectivity.
Explore Wildlife
Climate
Leveraging the power of flight to document climate impacts, track change, and strengthen resilience.
Explore ClimateBEYOND A SINGLE FLIGHT
Sustained campaigns, cumulative impact.
Some conservation work requires more than a single flight. LightHawk commits to sustained conservation campaigns across the country, returning over multiple months, even years, as the work evolves and progress builds. These are a few of the long-term efforts where that commitment is taking shape.
Bringing Back California Condors
California condors nearly vanished in the 1980s, down to 22 birds. Our flights transport birds between breeding facilities and release sites, track radio-tagged condors and help protect a population still fighting its way back.
Explore Our Condor Work
Telling the Story of the Colorado River
The Colorado River supplies water to 40 million people and is shrinking. LightHawk designs and flies recurring campaigns that put aviation to work documenting change, supporting science, raising awareness, and informing decisions across the Basin.
See Our Impact Across the Basin
Revealing the Everglades Under Pressure
Monitoring habitat loss, water withdrawals, and runoff across the nation’s largest wetland, LightHawk missions are uniquely suited to reach this remote, roadless terrain. From above, partners can better document change, guide restoration, and show decision-makers what is happening across the system.
Explore Our Impact
Advancing White Abalone Recovery
After white abalone declined by more than 99 percent, recovery came to depend on both careful movement through specialized breeding facilities and healthy coastal habitat. LightHawk provides rapid transport during critical stages of the recovery process and aerial monitoring of the kelp forests and protected waters the species needs to recover.
Learn About Our WorkDiscover how these priorities take shape across North America.
Explore the Flight Map →
See conservation from a new angle.
Every flight starts with a conservation goal. See the missions behind the landscapes, waters, wildlife, and coastlines we fly to protect.
Have a project in mind? Let’s talk.