FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, September 5, 2025
Contact:
Colleen Zimmerman (202) 464-2293 [email protected];
Paula Dinerstein (202) 265-6391 [email protected]
Ban on Rushmore and Badlands Air Tours Upheld
8th Circuit Rejects Operators Bid to Resume Noisy Tourist Overflights
Washington, DC — A federal appeals court has rejected a petition by the air tour industry which sought to reopen the skies above Mount Rushmore National Monument and Badlands National Park to air tours, according to the ruling posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), which had intervened in the case. As a result, the prohibition on noisy and disruptive air tours across these two iconic parks, adopted jointly by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Park Service (NPS) in 2023, will continue.
The September 4, 2025, ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit found that the decision by the two agencies to end flyovers within a half mile of these two parks’ boundaries because they “negatively affected visitor experience, wildlife, and tribal cultural experiences” was both reasonable and fully complied with the terms of the National Parks Air Tour Management Act of 2000. That law requires the two agencies to jointly develop plans to prevent commercial tours over national parks from disturbing wildlife, detracting from the visitor experience, or otherwise adversely affecting park resources.
It took a prior lawsuit by PEER to get the two agencies to act, as they had not adopted a single air tour management plan in any national park for 22 years. That earlier PEER case sparked a court-ordered schedule for adopting such plans at more than 20 national parks, ranging from Hawaii Volcanoes to New York Harbor.
The resultant air tour management plans have either substantially reduced permitted air tours across national parks or banned them outright. For example, a complete ban on overflights across Glacier National Park will take effect at the end of 2029. The ban on air tours for Mount Rushmore National Monument and Badlands National Park went into effect on May 13, 2024.
“We are pleased at the Court’s decision finding that the agencies’ ban on overflights was both legal and reasonable,” commented PEER Staff Counsel Colleen Zimmerman, noting that in this case PEER was aligned with the FAA and NPS. “It was a lot of work but our national parks have finally regained control over their skies.”
PEER had intervened in the case brought by the three companies offering air tours over the two parks (Badger Helicopters, Black Hills Aerial Adventures, and Rushmore Helicopters) on its own behalf and on behalf of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks.
Ironically, a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision which relaxed requirements for analyses done pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) worked against the air operators who based much of their case on claims that the agencies’ NEPA analysis was incomplete or flawed.
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Revisit multi-year effort to enforce National Park Air Tour Management Act of 2000
PEER protects public employees who protect our environment. We are a service organization for environmental and public health professionals, land managers, scientists, enforcement officers and other civil servants dedicated to upholding environmental laws and values. We work with current and former federal, state, local and tribal employees.
