The National Park Service (NPS) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are seeking public feedback on a draft Air Tour Management Plan (ATMP) that is being proposed for Glacier National Park.
The agencies encourage anyone with an interest in or concern about air tours over Glacier National Park to review and comment on the draft ATMP. The proposed plan would authorize the existing commercial air tour operators to provide up to 144 air tours per year on defined routes. This is the three-year average between 2017-2019 for these operators. The draft ATMP also includes a provision to phase out commercial air tours through attrition, which is consistent with the Park’s General Management Plan.
Public feedback can be provided through the NPS Planning, Environment and Public Comment (PEPC) website through October 3, 2021. The NPS and FAA will consider comments to help inform the final ATMP for Glacier National Park. The project website is available at: https://parkplanning.nps.gov/GlacierATMP
A public meeting for Glacier National Park’s ATMP is scheduled Tuesday, September 21, 2021 at 4:30-6:00 pm MT / 6:30-8:00 pm ET and will be livestreamed via YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. Links to meeting notifications and recordings will be posted to the project website.
“We encourage anyone who is interested in air tours over the park to share their thoughts on the proposed plan for Glacier National Park on the project website,” said Pete Webster, Acting Superintendent. “The draft plan continues scenic air tour activity over the park at current levels while reducing the number of flight allocations annually from what was set during the interim operating authority provided by the National Air Tour Management Act. It achieves the direction, set forth in Glacier’s General Management Plan, to eventually phase out air tour activity over Glacier National Park.”
Glacier National Park is among 24 parks of the National Park System developing air tour management plans in cooperation with the FAA. The agencies hope to complete all air tour management plans by the end of August 2022. The schedule is part of a plan approved by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for the agencies to comply with the National Parks Air Tour Management Act of 2000 within two years.
Please visit this NPS site and this FAA site for more detailed information about air tour management plans.
Jeff
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