Orlando-Sanford International Airport (SFB) is one of the top 30 airports in the world and dominates south-eastern regional travel to and from the Orlando area. Annual traffic through SFB is increasing each year with almost 3 million passengers in 2017.
For some time, Orlando Sanford was seeing an ongoing presence of burrowing gopher tortoises, a threatened species that is protected under Florida state law. The regulation associated with both the tortoise and its burrow meant that relocation and excavation were time-consuming and expensive with the added clause of getting special permission from the state to do so. After closing 875 burrows located next to SFB’s runway which totaled close to $400,000 in costs, the airport made the decision to address the root issue in a way that would keep the tortoises from coming back.
In 2014 SFB installed AcTurf on a 3.5-acre plot around the perimeter of a runway blast pad and conducted a year-long study to analyze the effectiveness of replacing natural grass with the synthetic turf system. At the end of the testing period, the airport detected no burrowing activity. The transition to artificial grass completely mitigated possible encounters between tortoises and aircraft during take-off and landings and provided a non-lethal and cost-effective, long-term solution for SFB.
AvTurf is proven to aid in reducing wildlife interactions near sensitive areas by removing food, water, and shelter near runways, taxiways, and infield islands.
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Shelby Becker is a creative content creator and marketing specialist at Act Global. She’s an animal rights activist, avid concert-goer, and scary movie enthusiast. Follow her on LinkedIn .
For more information, contact marketing at sbecker@actglobal.com