Regulations and Government
Pilots, Wildlife, and a View for Good
LightHawk shows how aviation transforms conservation
Semi-natural Skagit River floodplain upstream of Mt. Vernon, Washington.
LightHawk’s mission is to help conservation experts see what’s happening on the ground by getting an airborne perspective.

When conservationists, scientists, and decisionmakers lift off in a small airplane, the new perspective can tell a story that can’t always be seen clearly from below. That is how LightHawk got started more than four decades ago, using the perspective of general aviation to support conservation. 

The nonprofit, which directs most of its efforts toward endangered animal conservation, coordinates hundreds of flights each year at no cost to its wildlife partners. It pairs a variety of missions with a nationwide roster of volunteer pilots and aircraft to monitor watersheds, survey wild places, document coastal changes, and transport endangered wildlife.