Number: 1989-04
WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of Defense has increasingly sought to use airspace for training over or near protected areas such as National and State Parks, Forests and Wilderness areas; and
WHEREAS, low altitude aircraft operations have been proposed or are taking place over the Cape Lookout and Cape Hatteras National Seashores in North Carolina, the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Lake Superior, and many other environmentally sensitive areas nationwide; and
WHEREAS, low altitude aircraft operations can have significant adverse environmental effects, including possible impacts on wildlife, damage to historic and other structures, disruption of management activities including the use of aircraft by land management officials, and interference with the recreational use of protected areas; and
WHEREAS, military use of airspace may be inconsistent with the designated surface uses of nearby protected areas; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Defense has not routinely issued adequate environmental impact statements on the effects of low level aircraft operations on protected areas or minimized the impacts of those operations on protected areas; and
WHEREAS, the National Wildlife Federation has previously supported legislation to restrict aircraft usage of airspace over designated parks and all wilderness areas (Resolution No. 26, 1986);
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation in annual meeting assembled March 16-19, 1989, in Arlington, Virginia calls upon the Congress and the Department of Defense to minimize operations over protected areas to the maximum extent possible and enact and implement laws and regulations that authorize low level aircraft operations over a protected area only if:
- an adequate environmental impact statement has been completed that fully analyzes all potential impacts on the environment, including impacts on people, wildlife and buildings; and
- consultation has occurred with the land managers of the protected area (such as the park superintendent in the case of a unit of the National Park Service), local citizens and citizens organizations, and other affected persons; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Defense assure that its aircraft operations over protected areas are designed to minimize the potential adverse environmental and recreational effects of those operations.