Conservation Flying Since 1979
From above, everything is connected.
LightHawk puts aviation to work for conservation, helping protect wildlife, water, and landscapes across North America.
What Conservation Looks Like From Above
Some conservation work can only happen from the air.
LightHawk brings aviation into conservation work where a broader view, faster access, or the right aircraft can change what’s possible. Our experienced team works with conservation partners to design missions around the need, then brings together highly skilled volunteer pilots and the aviation resources to reveal change, reach remote places, move wildlife, and strengthen decisions on the ground.
See Our Work in Action
of a landscape into view.
Our Work
Where Flight Makes a Difference
LightHawk’s impact takes many forms, from protecting wildlife and waterways to revealing change across some of North America’s most important landscapes. LightHawk turns aerial perspective into insight, and insight into action.
See how this work takes shape across our priorities:
conservation at scale
Our Impact in Numbers
For more than four decades, LightHawk has put aviation to work for conservation across North America. Thousands of missions, hundreds of partners, and decades of experience show what’s possible when flight becomes a tool for conservation.
Behind every number is real conservation work, from urgent wildlife transport and aerial research to documenting change across vast landscapes, watersheds, and coastlines.
Conservation Flights
Years of Conservation Flying
Conservation Partners
States, Mexico & Canada
Mexican wolf back in the wild
Mission Moments
Hundreds of Wolves and a Second Chance for a Species
When endangered Mexican gray wolves need to move between recovery facilities, ground transport can mean long, stressful hours. LightHawk volunteer pilots make those moves in a fraction of the time, carrying wolves safely and efficiently across the country as part of a recovery effort that has spanned years.
It’s one mission among hundreds LightHawk flies every year, all beginning with a conservation goal and an aviation strategy designed to move that work forward.
One Flight. Lasting Impact.
Newsroom
From the Flight Log
2026 VP Awards
2026 Rookie of the Year Award
Honoring a new volunteer pilot whose exceptional commitment made an immediate difference Eric Berman Since joining LightHawk’s volunteer pilot corps…
2026 VP Awards
2026 Carpenter Award
Honoring dedication to conservation through the most volunteer flight hours donated in a pilot’s own aircraft Kenneth and Gabrielle Adelman…
2026 VP Awards
2026 Bill and Betty Rockwell Award
Honoring exceptional generosity, flexibility and a willingness to fly the extra mile for conservation Lane Gormley Lane Gormley has flown…
2026 VP Awards
2026 Spirit of LightHawk Award
Recognizing a pilot whose outstanding service, substantial flight-hour contribution and dedication represent the very best of LightHawk’s volunteer pilot community …
2026 VP Awards
2026 President’s Award
LightHawk’s highest honor, recognizing exemplary skill, contagious enthusiasm and volunteer service that goes above and beyond Jamie Gamble Since 2010,…
Pilot View
Pilot’s View: Above Colorado’s Changing Glaciers
Following a year of record-low snowfall, Colorado State University researchers are documenting how the state’s glaciers are changing. To capture…
Flown with Colorado State University
Featured Mission
Twelve Glaciers. Two and a Half Hours.
Colorado’s glaciers and perennial snowfields are shrinking. Documenting those changes means reaching remote mountain sites and gathering photographs from many…
Flown with Colorado State University
Featured Mission
From 1,300 Miles on Foot to One Powerful View from Above
Starting high in the Rocky Mountains, the Colorado River winds south through some of the most dramatic and heavily used…
Flown with Keep the River Running
Focus: Waterways
Pilot View: Flying Montana’s Bitterroot Valley
“Ray Lee is a true professional.” That’s how Northern Rockies Program Manager Chris Boyer described Lee after a recent LightHawk…
Featured Mission
Aerial Tours Expose Mine Risk to Bitterroot Watershed
The Bitterroot River winds through a picturesque valley in Western Montana, its meandering path carving a winding streambed across the…
Focus: Waterways
Pilot View: Capturing Aerial Perspective on the Colorado River
The Colorado River Basin is an area of intense interest this year. Record low snowfall has left the river system…
Featured Mission
Protecting Maine’s Landscapes and Waterways
There’s a narrow stretch of water in central Maine called the Serpentine that connects East and North Ponds. From the…
Fifty flights. Fifty days. Countless impact.
After 47 years of conservation flying, our pilots and partners take to the skies each summer for a unique Challenge — flying missions across North America from Alaska’s salmon rivers to Florida’s mangrove coasts. Join the cockpit, follow along, or help us put the power of aviation to work for conservation.
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Flights logged
Conservation needs a better view. Give it wings.
Your gift helps LightHawk design and coordinate conservation missions, mobilize skilled volunteer pilots, and put the right aircraft to work where aviation can make a difference.