Lu:
I am aware of the artificial turf product. I believe it may have great value for airfield areas where access by Wildlife Control personnel is problematic and there have been problems with insects attracting birds. One of the big problems with this product is cost. The product cost could literally use up an entire wildlife management budget in one shot, so it will need to be installed slowly over a number of years and in high risk, difficult access areas only. In addition there have been concerns expressed over the sand anchoring method and FOD damage to aircraft. This is a very vaild concern and the FOD damage from sand is very costly to operators by reducing overhaul times and increasing fuel consumption.
The most important considerations for managing wildlife at an airport are; identifying the high-risk bird species and building an integrated wildlife management plan. There are no "silver bullets" to manage wildlife, rather management plans that consider habitat modification strategies to reduce bird attractions as a long term management strategy, supplemented by the use of patrols and scaring techniques to deal with tactical problems.
Wildlife management is a complex ever-changing exercise that relies on a "tool-box" approach - rather like building a house you don't just use a hammer - you use the correct tool for the correct problem. Most importantly you must always collect data and constantly re-evaluate your strategies as new hazards may appear or appear at different times.
Richard