Making a case for quiet skies in Glacier
Last year, Glacier National Park visitors were treated to a rare experience – quiet skies. And visitors noticed. Friends for a Quiet! Glacier grew out of a need to help the Park make that permanent, just like the Glacier National Park Management Plan called for 18 years ago.
Glacier’s General Management Plan specifies the enabling legislation, defining the purpose of the Park as “…for the benefit and enjoyment of the people” and should provide “for the preservation of the park in a state of nature...”.
In 2017 there was a lot of excellent rescue and firefighting work for Glacier, carried out by contracted helicopter operators — at the same time, a unique set of circumstances dramatically reduced commercial sight-seeing tours. After exponential increases since 2013, this was a welcome change for visitors who are seeking escape from man-made noise in Glacier. A scenic helicopter tour is no doubt spectacular for the few people in the aircraft, but it is at the expense of the natural sound resource that is destroyed for the thousands of others here to experience the quiet.
The majority of visitors come to Glacier, the world’s first International Peace Park, for the spectacular, majestic cathedral of the northern Rocky Mountains. It is also one of the world’s treasured bio-reserves. Visitors come to escape the noise and chaos of daily life, seeking an opportunity to experience the vast wilderness, including natural sounds, in ways that allow others to do the same. Glacier has been trying to make that possible for two decades and Quiet! Glacier is committed to facilitating achievement of that goal and communicating three important points:
A small number of people taking scenic tour overflights are adversely impacting the experience for the majority of visitors. Everyone who visits the Park has access to Going-to-the-Sun Road by car, shuttle, or bus. Many scenic views are available by concessionaire boats.
Glacier is 95 percent defacto Wilderness. National Park Service Director’s order No. 41 states that defacto Wilderness must be managed as Wilderness. The Director’s Order defines the No.1 NPS role and legal responsibility as “visitor and resource protection”.
Glacier National Park was listed as one of the “highest priority” Parks in the 1994 report to Congress on overflights. In this report to Congress, NPS emphasizes, “Maintaining or restoring natural quiet is an immediate priority” for Glacier National Park.
April 5th marked the 18th Anniversary of the Air Tour Management Act, passed by Congress in 2000. This Act gave the NPS, working with the Federal Aviation Administration the authority to develop an Air Tour Management Plan appropriate to each National Park with air tours. Glacier was among the first National Parks to initiate an ATMP, with the Management Plan to phase-out overflights, but its completion has been halted since 2004 by the FAA.
In 2005, with no ATMP to show, and no oversight for overflight operators, FAA and NPS tried to reign-in scenic flights by requiring reporting of what they were doing, when and where. This legislation counted on the compliance of operators but has no follow up or enforcement. It relies on self-reporting with no confirmation.
Last fall, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility filed a complaint in Federal District Court, on behalf of seven national parks (including Glacier). The suit asks the court to require FAA to develop AMTPs as directed by law. Additionally, in February 2018, PEER filed a second legal complaint in the D.C. Court of Appeals, addressing FAA’s unreasonable delay of action. These complaints ask nothing more than for FAA to follow a law they helped write to maximize air tour safety issues and allow NPS to address the sensitivities to the uniqueness of individual National Park settings.
Last summer Glacier experienced unexpected relief from the adverse impact of scenic overflights. This and next summer, with the rebuilding of Sperry Chalet, there will be up to 220 administrative flights, but Glacier will be planning those flights as efficiently as possible, causing visitors as little disruption as possible, with an end in sight.
More information is available every day about how humans need respite from noise. Glacier is a special place for that escape. It is the people’s responsibility to protect that for future generations to experience. Quiet! Glacier (www.quietglacier.com) is a growing informational effort (Change.org Quiet! Glacier petition) with support in all 50 states and U.S. territories and 41 countries — to help Glacier restore Quiet Skies. We invite you to join our efforts to return quiet skies to this natural oasis, where so many seek to experience the natural sounds, sometimes one chance in a lifetime.
Friends for a Quiet! Glacier Coalition Coordinator,
Mary T. McClelland