Chuck
You ask come good hard questions. Please let me send you the links where I’ve
gotten my information or you can contact Don Barger, former SE Director of the
National Parks and Conservation Association. I believe you know him well. He
can answer all you questions far more eloquently than I.
The link to the complete draft plan can be found at the bottom of the Comment
page.
https://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=382&projectID=100689&documentID=114585
Melinda Welton
Nashville, TN
On Oct 8, 2021, at 12:24 PM, Charles Nicholson <cpnicholson53@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Kirk makes a good point about doing your research and getting your supporting
facts right. Some important points to consider are:
1) is 2,000 flights/year the same, an increase, or a decrease from the
currently authorized numbers?
2) what are the current and proposed restrictions on those flights, such as
what areas of the park can they fly over, minimum altitude requirements, time
of day requirements?
3) do NPS and FAA, in the draft air tour management plan, provide sufficient
evidence to show that the proposed plan will maintain the wilderness
character of the majority of the park, as required by the park GMP, as well
as the special management considerations for historic properties, endangered
species, and other important resources? If not, how is the plan deficient?
Please note that I am raising these issues with the hope that those of you
who send comments to NPS provide more useful comments than just a quick
off-the-cuff opinion.
Chuck Nicholson
Norris, TN
On Fri, Oct 8, 2021 at 12:54 PM KirkH <kihu63@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:kihu63@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
IMHO......
After doing a bit of research on this, the information I can find about the
proposed changes are not as described in this eMail message to TN-Bird. What
I have read indicates that the NPS & FAA are working to make the helicopter
tours & routes more restricted than they currently are. Please tell me if
I'm misreading something here, since I'm not looking to start trouble or an
argument over this. 😉🤓
It would be a shame to flood the hard-working NPS & GSMNP people with a bunch
of misguided, irate messages or eMails for a problem that doesn't exist.
Regards,
-----
Kirk Huffstater
Morristown, TN, USA
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On Fri, Oct 8, 2021 at 12:17 PM Melinda Welton <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
It appears the NPS may be trying to pull a fast one and they need a flood of
letters. Please consider writing and sharing a letter like this. The deadline
is this Wednesday the 13th!
National Park Service is about to approve a plan that would allow nearly
2,000 helicopter flights over the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
annually. They need to know that you value the park and how helicopters
overflights would diminish your experience. Even if you rarely or never visit
the park, but appreciate the value of the park and its preservation, you are
a “user” and your words are valuable.
Even if you write one profound sentence, they need to hear from you – it's be
important. Make it personal.
I go to the Smoky Mountains to (hike/bike/birdwatch/photograph/be in
nature/enjoy the sounds of nature/bird song/find solitude/escape from etc.)
Helicopter overflights would (intrude/disturb/ruin/compromise/impact etc.) my
experience of the park. They should not be (allowed/drastically reduced etc.)
Helicopters are disruptive and unfair to those on the ground and should be
disallowed.
Comments must be sent by Wednesday the 13th! to the link is below.
Thank you in advance,
Melinda Welton
Submit comments by this Wednesday the 13th:
https://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=382&projectID=100689&documentID=114585
<https://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=382&projectID=100689&documentID=114585>
If you’d like to write more in depth information contact me.
615-210-8095
Summary of the plane:
https://parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHome.cfm?projectId=100689 ;
<https://parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHome.cfm?projectId=100689>
