New Rules Clear Skies Over Mount Rushmore

Tourist flights face restrictions on flyovers at national parks and monuments
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Dec 10, 2023 10:50 AM CST
New Rules Restrict National Park Flyovers
The Badlands National Park is pictured from near Sage Creek Rim Road in 2018.   (Ryan Hermens/Rapid City Journal via AP, File)

Fewer planes and helicopters will be flying tourists over Mount Rushmore and other national monuments and parks as new regulations take effect that are intended to protect the serenity of some of the most beloved natural areas in the US. The air tours have pitted tour operators against visitors frustrated with the noise for decades, but it has come to a head as new management plans are rolled out at nearly two dozen national parks and monuments. One of the strictest yet was recently announced at Mount Rushmore and Badlands National Park, where tour flights will essentially be prohibited from getting within a half-mile of the South Dakota sites starting in April, the AP reports.

"I don't know what we're going to be able to salvage," complained Mark Schlaefli, a co-owner of Black Hills Aerial Adventures who is looking for alternative routes. The regulations are the result of a federal appeals court finding three years ago that the National Park Service and the Federal Aviation Administration failed to enforce a 2000 law governing commercial air tours over the parks and some tribal lands. A schedule was crafted for setting rules, and many are wrapping up now. But now an industry group is eying litigation, and an environmental coalition already has sued over one plan. The issue has grown so contentious that a congressional oversight hearing is planned for Tuesday.

Some argue that the whirr of chopper blades is drowning out the sound of birds, bubbling lava, and babbling brooks. That in turn disrupts the experiences of visitors and the tribes that call the land around the parks home. "Is that fair?" asked Kristen Brengel of the National Parks Conservation Association, noting that visitors on the ground far outnumber those overhead. "I don't think so." The air operators argue they provide unrivaled access, particularly to elderly and disabled people, per the AP. An "absolutely exhilarating, a thrilling experience" is how Bailey Wood, a spokesman for the Helicopter Association International, described it.

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As of this month, plans or voluntary agreements have been adopted for most of the parks. Those exempted from developing plans include parks those with few flights and those in Alaska, where small planes are often the only way to get around. "The plans have been pretty generous to the industry, allowing them to continue as they have done in the past with some limited air tours around these parks," said Peter Jenkins, senior council for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. "This isn't a management plan," complained Ray Jilek, owner of Eagle Aviation, said of the Mount Rushmore policy. "This is a cease and desist plan." But Brengel said the resistance doesn't have much traction: "It's so utterly clear that the vast majority of people who are going to these parks aren't going to hear the sounds of helicopters over their heads."

(More national parks stories.)

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