The Mason City Municipal Airport is getting a one-million dollar federal grant to build a seven-and-a-half mile fence around the airport’s perimeter. Airport manager Pam Osgood says the grant will also be used to install some new security gates inside the airport’s property.
"Trying to ensure that the airport is safe and secured at the same time," Osgood says. At the end of this month, the airport will conclude its year-long study of wildlife hazards on airport property. "To date, the results have demonstrated there is a need to install an eight-foot, three-strand, barbed wire fence around the perimeter to keep the wildlife activity off the airport," Osgood says.
The main concern is keeping deer off the airstrips. "There have also been sightings of coyotes and different things out on the airfield and we want to make sure that we deter that from occurring because safety is a major issue," Osgood says. Osgood hopes to have the fence completed by this fall. Last year, over 12-thousand passengers took a commercial flight out of the Mason City airport. Osgood says her airport is also "busy" with other pilots flying private aircraft in and out of Mason City.