TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- On the Tinker Trails there are military members and families walking their dogs, enjoying a quick jog or just enjoying nature, but if they listen closely they just might hear the calls of our feathered friends.
Tinker is home to more than 200 bird species and recently the Department of Defense has begun to standardize and centralize installation avian information into the Avian Knowledge Network. A week-long training initiative was hosted here, with representatives from across the region visiting to learn the AKN system and how to conduct bird surveys.
The AKN’s mission is to support a network of partnerships, data and technology to improve bird conservation, management and research across organizational boundaries and spatial scales.
Military installations have always gathered local avian data to inform analyses needed to address resource management, conservation stewardship and regulatory requirements, including Bird Air Strike Hazard, known as BASH data. However, avian data across the DOD has long been isolated at the installation level and collected in various, non-standardized methods making analyses within and outside the DOD difficult.
“AKN is a collaborative effort between a multitude of government and non-government stakeholders to facilitate and enhance bird conservation,” said John Krupovage, 72nd Civil Engineer Directorate natural resources manager. “DOD has adopted the AKN as the go-to solution for managing avian data across the military.”
As a result of the training and use of the AKN database system, installations across the DOD will be able to make more informed decisions about how to best conserve bird species and address local avian policies.
“Throughout the training week, attendees learn how the AKN system is organized, how to create and manage their project in the system, how to input their avian data and how to use the system’s analytical tools,” said Elizabeth Neipert DoD AKN Program Director and National AKN Steering Committee Chair.
“Within the context of DOD, the overarching goal is to improve avian data organization, integrity, availability, and usability,” said Krupovage. “This will more effectively and responsibly guide future base decision-making while stewarding our declining bird populations.”
Regulatory decisions made by federal and state agencies, such as listing of a species under the Endangered Species Act, have the potential to impact the military mission. Those decisions are made using the best available data and the AKN provides the DoD an opportunity to easily share data with decision-makers to ensure the most accurate and complete data are used.
“AKN provides the ability to look at huge amounts of data and identify what’s working and what’s not, and where limited conservation funding will have the greatest impact,” Neipert added “This is the future of conservation not only across DoD, but across the country with DoD leading the charge.”