Nankoweap

Air Tour Noise

Air tour noise in Grand Canyon National Park has steadily increased since the 1970s.  We now have the opportunity to help the National Park Service better manage these air tour rides and the noise they create.  The draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), Special Flight Rules Area in the Vicinity of Grand Canyon National Park, is available for public comment until June 20, 2011.

Tom Martin and Jim McCarthy made this film hoping that people like you would take a few minutes to protect out iconic park.  Writing a brief note explaining how the park is important to you, and that quiet is part of the experience, would help the Park Service do the right thing.  We need to counter the air tour industry's push for more intrusive, noisy rides.  There are several ways to comment:

The EIS can be reviewed at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/grca by clicking on "Open for Comment" and then clicking on the special Flight Rules item for the Grand Canyon.  This page lists the document and provides a "Comment on Document" button.

Or, you can mail comments to :

Office of Planning and Compliance
Grand Canyon National Park
PO Box 129
Grand Canyon, AZ 86023

We also encourage you to attend one of the open house meetings to make your views known in person:

  • Phoenix: Wednesday, April 6, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.  Embassy Suites Phoenix Biltmore, Junior Ballroom, 2630 E. Camelback Rd., Phoenix, AZ.
  • Flagstaff: Thursday, April 7, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.  High Country Conference Center, 1899 Room, 201 W. Butler Ave. Flagstaff, AZ.
  • Henderson:  Thursday, April 14, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.  Wingate by Wyndham, Wingate Ballroom, 3041 Saint Rose Parkway, Henderson, NV.

This is not just about the Grand Canyon; what happens here will affect management plans for all our national parks.  Please let your friends know about this and encourage them to get involved.

Sample Talking Points

Effective comments talk about how you feel about the park, how aircraft noise has affected you, or what your technical knowledge is.  You might consider putting some of these points in your own words:

  • The parks were created to protect natural resources, including natural quiet.  The parks were not created to promote industry.  The starting point for compromise is that there should be no tour rides in our national parks.
  • The best way to see the park is by hiking the trails, running the river, or viewing from the rim.  At these places, you can see the park, but also smell it, touch it, and hear it.
  • Low flying aircraft and the noise they generate compromise the ability of people on the ground to enjoy the park.  Aircraft also negatively affect wildlife.
  • In our industralized society, it is important that we save a few places for contemplative recreation.  The national parks are the best place for this type of recreation and renewal.
  • Hualapai Tribal lands at the west end of the Grand Cayon will be exempt from annual flight allocations and daily caps.  As these lands are increasingly impacted by tour rides, it is even more important to protect peace and quiet inside the park.
  • The number of permits for the river and hiking, and bunks at Phantom Ranch, have been capped for decades to protect park resources.  Since 1975, the number of tour rides has increades almost tenfold.  The number of air tour should be reduced to the number when Congress first indicated there was a problem - 1975, in the Grand Canyon Enlargement Act.
  • The Park Service this year significantly reduced the number of mule rides in the Canyon because they were destroying the trails.  The mule rides were moved to the rim, outside the Canyon.  Air tour rides should also be reduced to protect park resources.
  • The 1987 Overflights Act dictates that there shall be no flights below the rim, yet flights are still allowed well below the rim.  The Park Service should implement and enforce the law.
  • All aircraft should be banned for at least part of the year from the two major tour routes in teh eastern region of the park.  Effects on hikers and wildlife should be considered when deciding seasonal route closures, e.g., North Rim and South Rim use patterns.
  • The definition of Quiet Technology should be changed so that it leads to quieter aircraft, not the current noise per seat rule that can actually make the noise worse.
  • The Park Service idea to increase the curfews (sunrise to first flight, and last flight to sundown) from as little as 14 minutes currently, to one hour, is a good idea.
Last updated on March 26th, 2011 by rrfw