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Where are we and where are we going?
Status of Overflights Program, March 2007
The NPS and FAA are co-leads in developing and writing the “Special Flight Rules in the Vicinity of Grand Canyon National Park Environmental Impact Statement.” With the help of the National Parks Overflight Advisory Group (NPOAG), Grand Canyon Working Group, we have developed a range of alternatives to analyze for the EIS. The NPS and FAA have hired a contractor to facilitate writing the EIS, and we are on an aggressive schedule to complete the EIS by April 2008, to meet the deadline established in the 1996 Presidential memorandum. A Draft EIS for public review is expected in fall 2007.
The five draft alternatives span a range of options for restoring natural quiet to the Park while allowing for a viable air tour industry. A variety of tools to achieve these goals include using curfews, encouraging quiet aircraft technology, seasonal use, and modifications to routes and flight free zones.
The alternatives will be analyzed for environmental impacts, including impacts to the Park soundscape using noise modeling with FAA’s INM 6.2. Other resources to be analyzed for impacts will be visitor experience, wildlife, cultural, adjacent lands, socioeconomics, and more. The level of impacts (negligible to major) for each resource will help determine the preferred alternative.
