LightHawk’s Environmental Program

LightHawk plays a unique and critical role in the environmental movement. Providing perspective from the air, LightHawk flights give passengers the chance to see for themselves the widespread effects of unsound environmental policies and practices. Further, the aerial platform provides groups with the opportunity to gather scientific data and photographic images in support of conservation. For example, LightHawk missions enable passengers to serve as expert witnesses or document evidence for court cases; write informed articles for media campaigns; take photographs to assess land conditions; and survey habitat needed to protect endangered or threatened wildlife. By supporting the work of its partners, LightHawk leverages both its own and its partners’ resources beyond what either could achieve alone.

Additionally, the aerial view often results in eye-opening revelations.

“Large-scale oil and gas development cannot be fully comprehended from the ground because it is large scale. Seeing the network of roads for that development – in the middle of a migration corridor – clarified that conflict for me, and drove it home. The aerial perspective is the true perspective, and there’s no substitute for it.”
—Karen Mocker, freelance writer for High Country News and Wyoming Public Radio

LightHawk’s Environmental Program provides the unique perspective of flight in support of the most pressing environmental issues and campaigns throughout the regions we serve. LightHawk collaborates closely with more than 200 partner organizations, ranging from international nonprofits to small community-based groups, each with its own environmental objectives. The generosity of our expert volunteer pilots and our dedicated staff combine to add tremendous value beyond the flights themselves, resulting in dramatic outcomes that include:

  • Broader public understanding of and support for conservation;
  • Increased support from decision-makers and public officials for environmental protection;
  • Successful pro-environment litigation and legislation;
  • Improved management of public lands and resources (for example, plans for watershed or forest management);
  • Identification of environmental crimes such as illegal dumping or logging;
  • Improved scientific understanding of land conditions, sources of pollution, habitats and species; and
  • New wilderness or other designations for protection.

Geographic Commitments

LightHawk’s administrative headquarters are in Lander, Wyoming. The organization’s regions of operation are:

Mesoamerica (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and Mexico;
The Rocky Mountains (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and Alberta, Canada);
The Pacific Region (California, Washington, Oregon and Baja; limited operations in Alaska and British Columbia, Canada);
The Eastern Region (New England and the eastern seaboard states including Florida);
Other regions (LightHawk also flies in other areas of the United States and Caribbean on a case by case basis).