LightHawk
  • About
    • What We Do
    • Where We Work
    • Our People
    • Our Plan
    • Our Financials
    • Annual Reports
    • Careers
    • Contact
  • Pilots
    • 2021 VP Awards
      • 2020 VP Awards
    • Fly for LightHawk
    • FAQ for Pilots
    • Pilot Portal
  • Partners
    • Become a partner
    • Our Partners
    • Request a Flight
  • Conservation Projects
    • Our Conservation Work
    • Flagship Projects
    • Strategic Projects
    • Flights of Opportunity
    • Flight Map
  • News
    • Sign Up for Our Newsletter
  • AMFI
  • Donate
    • Online donation
    • Donor Advised Funds
    • Legacy Giving
    • The Bud Sittig Memorial Fund
Select Page

Conservation FLYer September 2022

Oct 3, 2022 | Blog

Catch up on the latest LightHawk news

September 2022

Featured mission: Monitoring harmful algal blooms with San Francisco Baykeeper

Harmful algal bloom growth in Discovery Bay. Photo by Robert Most

LightHawk partner San Francisco Baykeeper has flown multiple missions over the past few years to monitor and document harmful algal blooms (HABs) in the San Francisco Bay Area. HABs impair waterways, making them uninhabitable for fish and dangerous for humans. According to the CDC, Algal and cyanobacterial blooms can grow in fresh water, salt water, and brackish water (a mixture of fresh and salt water) around the world, including in water people use for drinking or recreation. Harmful blooms tend to form in warm water with high levels of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus.

HABs are bad for water systems for a number of reasons. If a bloom becomes so dense that sunlight cannot go through, it can block other plants and animals in the water from getting the sunlight they need to survive. Dense blooms can also clog the gills of fish, shellfish, and other animals, preventing them from breathing.

HAB growth documented in Clifton Court Forebay. Photo by Robert Most

When a bloom dies off, the decay process may use up all the oxygen in the water, causing other organisms in the water to suffocate (not be able to breathe). As a bloom decays, it may also release gasses that can harm people, such as methane and hydrogen sulfide (which smells like rotten eggs).

Recently, two new field investigators joined the Baykeeper team. As part of their onboarding to the organization, they flew with LightHawk volunteer pilot Peter Geiler. Their flight served to familiarize them with the ins and outs of LightHawk flights with the goal of expanding the partnership between San Francisco Baykeeper and LightHawk for advocacy, community outreach and education, science and legal investigations around harmful algal blooms.

The flight provided documentation of growth at Stockton terminus. Photo by Robert Most.

Additionally, the flight took advantage of time in the air to conduct a seasonal overview of the San Joaquin Delta to evaluate and document remote water quality conditions as part of their ongoing HAB monitoring program. 

The flight captured great imagery of harmful algal blooms and was a great introduction to LightHawk flights for the new field investigators. LightHawk's partnership with San Francisco Baykeeper makes monitoring harmful algal blooms more efficient and effective. Special thanks to LightHawk volunteer pilot Peter Geiler for providing this flight.

A boat pulling a tube cruises past a growth in Clifton Court Forebay. Photo by Robert Most.

 

Annual Meeting & Fly-In

Thank you to all who attended LightHawk's Annual Meeting & Fly-In in Washington, DC. As our first fly-in since 2019, it was great to catch up with old friends and make new ones. Watch the LightHawk website and social media channels in the coming weeks for photos and videos from the event! Special thanks to Thomas Haas for sponsoring this year's event.

 

LightHawk in the News

In Real Life: Living with wolves
https://www.newsy.com/stories/in-real-life-living-with-wolves-1/

Truck, plane, backpack: Inside the extreme effort to save Mexican wolves
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2022/mexican-wolves-extinction-crisis/

The Colorado River Is Dying. Can Its Aquatic Dinosaurs Be Saved?
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/09/colorado-river-dying-can-its-aquatic-dinosaurs-be-saved/

 

LightHawk Photo of the Month

Survey for herring spawn in Puget Sound

Photo by Ronan Donovan

This photo of Grand Prismatic Lake was taken during a flight over a large beaver complex at the southern end of Yellowstone National Park as a part of an ongoing photo assignment for National Geographic Magazine. The assignment is focused on the benefits that beavers provide for climate change resiliency, fire mitigation and for keeping water on arid landscapes.

 

Subscribe to LightHawk's YouTube channel

Have you subscribed to LightHawk's YouTube channel? We would like to grow this outlet in the future but we need your help! We need a minimum of 100 subscribers to customize our YouTube address. Once we are able to customize the address, it will be easier for others to find it. As the channel grows, we hope to create more content highlighting the work of our volunteer pilots and conservation partners. Please take a moment to subscribe to the LightHawk YouTube channel at the link below.

LightHawk YouTube Channel
 

Thank you LightHawk supporters! For those of you who are on social media, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn to see updates more often. Thanks for reading and fly safe!

 
 

Did you receive this newsletter by someone forwarding it to you? Subscribe!

FacebookTwitterYouTubeInstagramLinkedInWebsite
 
 
  Share 
  Tweet 
  Share 
  Forward 

LightHawk
PO Box 913239
Denver, CO  80291
Call: 970-797-9355
Email: [email protected]
Visit: lighthawk.org

Unsubscribe
 

What We Do

What We Do

Where We Work

Our People

Our Plan

Our Financials

Annual Reports

Careers

Contact

Pilots & Partners

Fly for LightHawk

FAQ for Pilots

Flight Map

Become a Partner

Our Partners

Partner Portal

Pilot Portal

Other

Support LightHawk

Strategic Projects

Flagship Projects

News

Fly-In

What We Do

What We Do

Where We Work

Our People

Our Plan

Our Financials

Annual Reports

Careers

Contact

Pilots & Partners

Fly for LightHawk

FAQ for Pilots

Project Map

Become a Partner

Our Partners

Flights Portal

LightHawk Store

Other

Support LightHawk

Strategic Projects

Flagship Projects

News

Fly-In

Proud to be a community partner of
Alaska Airlines

  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow

LightHawk is headquartered in beautiful Colorado.
Mail Service: P.O. Box 2751, Grand Junction, CO 81502 970-797-9355 ©2022, All Rights Reserved.