Canyon de Chelly in Arizona will become latest national park unit to ban commercial air tours
CANYON DE CHELLY NATIONAL MONUMENT, Ariz. — Commercial air travel will soon be banned over Canyon de Chelly National Monument in northeastern Arizona, under a plan approved this week by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Park Service.
The park service said in a statement that the plan was signed Thursday and will take effect within 180 days, barring any legal challenges. It bans trips across the park and within 800 meters outside the boundary.
“Prohibiting commercial air travel protects the cultural and spiritual significance of these lands to the Navajo Nation,” said Park Superintendent Lyn Carranza. “Canyon de Chelly National Monument’s Air Tour Management Plan honors the unique nation-to-nation relationship regarding decisions affecting the park and helps preserve one of the most important archaeological landscapes in the Southwest.”
Located in the Four Corners region within the Navajo Nation, the park is one of the most visited national monuments in the United States. It is known for its tall sandstone cliffs and 244-meter-high Spider Rock spire. Prehistoric petroglyphs can be found throughout the area, where Native Americans have lived for millennia.
The sightseeing flights reportedly date back to the 1930s, when crews building the Hoover Dam on the Arizona-Nevada border asked helicopter pilots working on the project to give flyovers to their families.
The tours offering unique overhead views of spectacular landscapes have long been popular in Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park. Among the country’s busiest spots for tour operators are Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, home to one of the most active volcanoes in the world, and Haleakala National Park.
Proponents of the tours say they provide tourists with an exciting experience and allow seniors and people with disabilities to see and enjoy the parks. Critics say the flights are an unnecessarily dangerous way to see some of the most stunning public areas in the United States.
Rules for designating routes and minimum altitudes were established in 1986 after two touring planes collided over the Grand Canyon, killing 25 people. Still, there are currently numerous options for helicopter flights to the Grand Canyon, departing from places including Las Vegas and Sedona, Arizona.
Critics also complain that the buzz of helicopters drowns out the sounds of nature, disrupting the experiences of on-site visitors and tribal members who call the land around the parks home.
The park service is working with the FAA to improve the National Park Air Tour Management Act of 2000which requires tour operators wishing to conduct such commercial air travel to obtain FAA approval. The law also requires the FAA, in coordination with the park service, to develop air travel management plans for the parks and nearby tribal areas where applications are submitted.
Canyon de Chelly is the last of about two dozen national park units where the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility had fought for overpass restrictions. Other national parks where such commercial overpasses are essentially banned or will be in coming years include Badlands National Park and Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota, Glacier National Park in Montana, and Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico. Only two air trips per year are allowed in Death Valley National Park along the California-Nevada border.