Air Tours Over San Francisco

 Air Tour Management for the national parks at the Golden Gate*

Neighborhoods are concerned about the extension of numerous air tours over the Bay.  Find out more:

http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/arc/programs/air_tour_management_plan/parks_overflights_group/

The National Parks Air Tour Management Act of 2000 requires the FAA and

   NPS to prepare an Air Tour Management Plan (ATMP) for any national

   park or tribal land where an air tour operator has applied for

   authority to conduct air tours.

The FAA and NPS decided to do a combined Environmental Assessment for

   the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) and Point Reyes

   National Seashore. The GGNRA ATMP will include the Muir Woods

   National Monument and Fort Point National Historic Site, which are

   both managed by GGNRA; and the adjacent, independently managed San

   Francisco National Historical Park.  A separate ATMP will be

   developed for the Seashore.

The objective of the ATMPs is to develop effective measures to mitigate

   or prevent any significant adverse impacts of commercial air tour

   operations on the natural resources, cultural resources, visitor

   experiences, and tribal lands within or abutting GGNRA and the

   Seashore.

The ATMPs will apply to air tour operations below 5,000 feet over the

   parks and to a half-mile buffer zone surrounding the parks’

   boundaries.

Two companies currently have authority to conduct air tours over the

   areas – San Francisco Helicopter Tours and San Francisco Seaplane

   Tours. SFHT can conduct up to 2,900 annual tours and SFST can conduct

   up to 2,190 annual tours.

The tour allocations are the number of tours the companies reported they

   conducted the year before Congress passed NPATMA, which was signed

   into law on April 5, 2000.

This week’s meetings are the start of the ATMP process. Our goal is to

   give everyone a chance to comment on what issues and alternatives the

   ATMP should examine. People also can submit written comments.

Following this “scoping” process, the FAA and NPS will:

      Select alternatives

      Prepare the draft environmental assessments, which will analyze

         the potential impacts associated with  each alternative. The

         public and various agencies will be able to comment during this

         stage.

      Identify a preferred alternative.

      FAA will create enforceable rules for air tour operations above

         these national park units. The public and various agencies will

         be able to comment during this process as well.

FAA and NPS currently are developing ATMPs for a number of parks,

   including Mount Rushmore, Badlands, Hawaii Volcanoes, Haleakala,

   Death Valley, Statue of Liberty / Governors Island, Big Cypress,

   Mount Rainier, and Petrified Forest.

We don’t know how long it will take to develop the two ATMPs for GGNRA

   and for the Seashore.

To date, no ATMPs have been released in draft form or finalized.

   Developing ATMPs is very complex and involves numerous stakeholders

   with very different goals and positions.

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http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2011/07/politicians-working-block

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