A coalition of conservation and environmental groups want Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to ban helicopter overflights at Glacier National Park/Kurt Repanshek file photo

Dear Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell,

Congratulations on the National Park Service’s Centennial!

This year, especially, we are celebrating the unique guardianship Americans have entrusted to the National Park Service: to preserve and to protect our national treasures -- some of the nation’s most natural, peaceful, beautiful and historic places -- while also ensuring a high-quality experience for visitors.

There is no better time than this centennial to also reflect on the challenges faced by our parks – especially those challenges that have a ready solution. We are answering the National Park Service “Call to Action.” We are asking you to join us.

Glacier National Park Needs Our Help

Glacier National Park has been under attack from serious pollutants for decades. The loss of glacial ice to global air pollution, for instance, is well documented. But the assault by noise pollution has been flying under the radar, and is contributing to the demise of Glacier Park’s heritage of wild nature and resilience, protected for all people of the world to discover. Glacier’s solitude has been shattered by hundreds of helicopter overflights, and the incessant noise pollution endured by wildlife and visitors is destroying what Glacier stands for – the pinnacle of natural beauty and tranquility. This is a pollution issue, not an aviation issue.

This serious problem has continued to escalate despite passage of National Parks Air Tour Management Act of 2000. NPATMA has not been enforced and is losing the spirit of its intent –the cooperation of the FAA and the NPS to “establish an air tour management plan for any national park or tribal land for which such a plan is not in effect whenever a person applies for authority to conduct a commercial air tour operation over the park.” “Such a plan may prohibit commercial air tour operations in whole or part.”

Sixteen years after the law was enacted, 17 years after scenic tour overflights were listed as a critical issue in Glacier National Park’s General Management Plan, and 30 years after the problem in Glacier was identified as a priority at a Congressional Hearing (1987 Congress passed P.L. 100-91 and again in 1994 and 2002), we still have no peace in Glacier. Today, more than 500 helicopters per month fly sorties over our nation’s only International Peace Park and World Heritage site, during the height of the summer season. 

Glacier National Park administration and staff, local residents, and visitors from across the country and around the world have long been concerned about noise pollution in Glacier. It is among the most common complaints lodged by travelers. Montana legislators introduced bills to address this issue more than 20 years ago, but to no effect. The issue also was thoroughly studied and vetted through the public process to craft and record Glacier Park’s General Management Plan, which determined to eliminate scenic tour overflights. Supporting current research and the NPS Natural Sounds division reflect this commitment. 

The National Park Service will request that the Federal Aviation Administration prohibit all commercial scenic air tours over Glacier National Park. The Going-to-the-Sun Road will continue to provide access to interior portions of the park for all visitors, especially those unable to hike or ride horseback. -- Glacier's General Management Plan

Helicopter overflights are an inappropriate use, unless they are for rescue, research or necessary park administration. The small number of acoustic offenders is disproportionate to the large number of visitors and the wildlife that are adversely impacted. In fact, only one-quarter of one percent (a few thousand) of Glacier National Park’s annual visitors participate in these overflights. More than 99 percent (2 million) of the visiting public is adversely affected by the actions of an extreme few.

Helicopter overflights respect no boundaries. They invade even the most remote backcountry areas where visitors are offered outstanding opportunities for solitude and where natural quiet should predominate. Preserving the sanctity and quiet of special places is a priority of NPS. The Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park and World Heritage Site surely warrants our highest standard of respect and stewardship.

This summer, Glacier’s visitors once again will be bombarded with ramped-up helicopter tours, despite the centennial occasion.

We maintain there is no better time to announce your commitment to pursuing a Quiet! Glacier.

In the public interest, and in the spirit of the Call to Action fo the National Park Service Centennial, we propose that:

The National Park Service announce on the date of its Centennial, August 25th, 2016, that helicopter overflights will be discontinued per Glacier National Park’s 1999 General Management Plan, and that helicopter scenic tours will cease no later than 2017.

Secretary Jewell, we are asking you to join us on behalf of Glacier National Park. We are asking, for the benefit of all present and future generations of all colors, ages and nationalities, and for the sanctity of its magnificent wildlife, that you help put a stop to noise pollution and restore a Quiet! Glacier. We ask this in honor of the NPS centennial, for another century of conservation, preservation and enjoyment, and in hope for a quiet and peaceful Glacier National Park for the next 100 years.

Sincerely,

Mary T. McClelland

On behalf of Friends for a Quiet! Glacier Coalition and the millions of visitors who revere the Park.

Groups supporting overflight reforms include:

Sierra Club

National Parks Conservation Association

Wilderness Watch

Swan View Coalition

Friends of the Wild Swan

Restore the North Woods

Montana Ecosystems Defense Council

Conservation Congress

Yellowstone Safari Company

North Fork Preservation Association

Headwaters Montana

Alliance For the Wild Rockies

Great Old Broads for Wilderness