flying and wildlife

[pink_albatross]

I was looking at the German hang and paragliding club's site (wanted to know how many PG pilots there are in Germany: 25,000+, 12.6% women) and stumbled over a little blurb which I found interesting and thought I'd mention it here, should we ever be called upon (by friends or park services) to provide some info on our impact on wildlife.

Apparently the DHV (german hang and paragliding club) a while ago had commissioned a study to assess the impact of our sport on wildlife. It's called the "Ikarus und die Wildtiere" (Icarus and wildlife) study and was conducted by the "Wildbiologische Gesellschaft Muenchen". In short, the impact is neglible.

In regions which are not regularly flown, the animals will often startle and look for cover. How severe the startle response is, will in part depend on the terrain (forest or meadow for example) and the amount of coverage available. In regions which are regularly flown, the animals have learned that PG and HG are no threat and will continue to go about their business as usual. Also, in regions where hiking has already been established, the animals have already retreated to less frequented areas before the first pilots ever arrived at the scene.

This is a translated excerpt of an excerpt. I just mention it here for archive purposes, so that we know where to go for some info if we need it.

-- ellis (still dreaming of being permitted to fly in all national parks and forests - did you know that the Canadians are at the time of writing starting to consider permitting our sport in their national parks?)

[LE Herrick]

Excellent

I did not know about the Canadian National Park proposal. Do you have any more information about it? I may take it to the site committee at next weeksUSHPA board of directors meeting.

Thanks

LE

[mcelrah]

So, what are the actual German words behind "DHV" anyway? - Hugh

[pink_albatross]

Deutscher Haengegleiter Verband