Farmer will trap beavers at Eastern Iowa Airport

CEDAR RAPIDS - A farmer licensed to trap beavers will help eliminate a potential nuisance at The Eastern Iowa Airport.

The Cedar Rapids Airport Commission on Monday approved a lease agreement with Doug Sedlacek of Cedar Rapids to trap beavers on farmland owned by The Eastern Iowa Airport. The lease begins Nov. 1 and terminates on April 1, 2016.

Don Swanson, airport director of finance and administration, said beavers have been building dams on a stream that flows from the airport's stormwater detention basin.

'That backs up water in the detention basin, which just sits there,” Swanson said. 'We've had geese, ducks and cranes that you don't want around airports.

'We're working to ensure the detention basin drains properly and the first thing we have to do is get rid of the critters.”

Geese and other waterfowl can shut down a jet engine if they are sucked into the fan. More than 200 people have been killed worldwide since 1988 due to wildlife strikes with aircraft, according to Bird Strike Committee USA.

Swanson said Sedlacek has trapped beavers at the airport for several years.

'The public won't see the traps, which will be on a stream that flows into Prairie Creek,” Swanson said. 'Hopefully, that will eliminate standing water in the detention basin.”

Separately, the commission approved a $192,500 bid by 911 Security Cameras of Chicago and Dallas to install additional security cameras at the airport.

Airport Director Marty Lenss said the new cameras will be installed in the long-term and short-term parking lots and near customer assistance phones along a covered walkway.

'The cameras will be connected to our existing video surveillance system,” Lenss told the commissioners. 'The system will be much more robust and cover the majority of our parking lots.”

The 911 Security Cameras bid was considerably below the engineer's estimate of $350,000 for the project. The system is scheduled to be operating by Aug. 22, 2016.