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Sunday's Podcast: News Roundup Looking At Air Tours, GAOA, And More

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By NPT Staff - November 11th, 2022
Park overflights can provide a unique perspective of viewing national parks, but should the Park Service be required to conduct environmental studies as called for under NEPA to help in designing air tour management plans?/Patrick Cone file

Air tours over national parks is one of the topics to be discussed in Sunday's podcast at the National Parks Traveler/Patrick Cone

Is the National Park Service failing to adequately evaluate air tours over national parks, how is the Great American Outdoors Act performing in the National Park System, and continuing visitation issues in the parks are the topics that will be discussed in this coming Sunday's podcast at the National Parks Traveler.

Both the National Parks Conservation Association and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility have raised concerns with the work the Park Service and the Federal Aviation Administration put into crafting the air tour management plans. Specifically, they contend that the Park Service failed to conduct environmental studies of the flights' impacts as required by the National Environmental Policy Act.

In Sunday's podcast host Kurt Repanshek is joined by Kristen Brengel, the senior vice president for government affairs for NPCA, and Mike Murray, the chair of the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, to discuss the way the air tour plans are being crafted. Brengel has closely followed the issue for two decades, while Murray was a student of NEPA during his Park Service career and is well familiar with the ins and outs of the policy. As chair of the Coalition, he has closely read through the air tour plans that have been released and submitted comments with his group's concerns.

Brengel and Murray also discuss the successes of the Great American Outdoors Act in funneling much-needed dollars into the park system for maintenance needs, and address visitation issues, and Park Service staffing levels, across the system.

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Comments

Submitted by Mather Forever on November 14, 2022 - 4:42am.

Good podcast. Good perspective on air tour plans as well as news on funding going across the country for Great American Outdoors Act projects.  


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