At Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which successfully sued the agencies for not moving more quickly on establishing air tour plans, Jeff Ruch said park superintendents pretty much have their hands tied when it comes to airspace over their parks.
“Park superintendents have discovered their jurisdictions ends at the tree tops,” Ruch, PEER’s Pacific director, told the Traveler in an email Thursday. “For example, Grand Teton’s [General Management Plan] bans all overflights, but it has no means to enforce that prohibition. It is the FAA that regulates commercial air traffic generally. Notably, the National Park Air Tour Management Plans are developed by the FAA ‘in consultation with’ NPS, and there’s the rub.”