Courtesy National Park Service
It’s not exactly a ban on tourist flights over Crater Lake. But it’s a big step in that direction.
On Monday, the Senate passed a bill that gives the National Park Service unusual powers to regulate air tours over the Southern Oregon landmark.
Normally, the Park Service has to spend a lot of time and money to develop an air tour management plan before deciding if flights would be okay. This bill says they can skip that step – but only at Crater Lake.
Oregon Senators Wyden and Merkley managed to have this feature added as an amendment to a Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill.
Wyden has been trying to prevent air tours over Crater Lake since last summer, when we found out that an air tour company applied for permission to fly over the park. The idea of helicopters buzzing right above the heads of visitors made a lot of people pretty upset. They wanted to protect the park’s sense of peacefulness and tranquility.
Wyden and Merkley are obviously hoping that if the National Park Service gets the authority, it will decide to ban Crater Lake chopper flights.
But a number of things have to happen before the bill becomes law, including surviving negotiations in a House-Senate conference committee and new votes before both houses of Congress.
