The Alaska Quiet Rights Coalition (“AQRC”) is pleased to offer the report “Helicopter-Supported Commercial Recreation Activities in Alaska”. This factual report was prepared by two highly experienced former State of Alaska land managers. We hope it will be of assistance to individuals, communities, organizations, and agencies in dealing with the increasing helicopter noise in our state. The complete report can be found on AQRC’s website at www.alaskaquietrights.org. AQRC is dedicated to protecting the rights of Alaskans to quiet places for the benefit of home and cabin owners, communities, public land users, businesses, wildlife, visitors, and future generations; it seeks a fair and balanced allocation of Alaska’s public lands for both non-motorized and motorized use.
Helicopter-supported recreation, both winter and summer, can—and does—adversely affect Alaskan communities, Alaskans in their homes and cabins, both residents and visitors seeking to recreate on the public lands, and wildlife. The report describes the laws, regulations and policies available—or not available—to try to manage these activities; the impacts of noise and how those impacts can be assessed; ways to try to lessen those impacts; and the helicopter-supported recreational activities presently occurring in specific locations throughout the state. It shows that helicopter activities are increasing, that we lack certain important tools for managing them, and that the tools that we do have are applied unevenly by different agencies and in different locations.
Most people would think that if natural quiet, and the opportunity to hear and enjoy natural sounds—“the stillness that fills me with peace”, as Robert Service said—could be found anywhere, it would be in Alaska, which has rightly been called The Last Wild Place. Ironically, and sadly, too often what we find instead, even deep in the backcountry, are the highly obtrusive sounds (noise) of our increasingly mechanized recreational activities: helicopters and snowmachines in the winter, helicopters (and other aircraft), jet skis, airboats, and ATVs in the summer—the use of our common lands and waters for private gain and tourist pleasure at the expense of peace and quiet in our communities, on our recreational lands, and in wildlife habitats.
This report shows helicopter-supported recreation is growing in Alaska, but the tools available to help control its impacts are somewhat limited. However, there are steps you can take. For example, look closely at the innovative approach taken by the Haines Borough in their ordinance. Advocate that large areas of our public lands be declared off-limits to new helicopter-supported recreation. Where such activities are permitted, insist that agencies base their wildlife mitigation measures on science, actively monitor the operations undertaken, designate take-off and landing areas, flight paths, and the highest possible minimum altitudes, and limit operations to certain times of the day, week and/or year. The Alaska Quiet Rights Coalition hopes this report provides basic information that Alaskans can use to ensure their communities, cabins, favorite backcountry recreation areas, and wildlife are protected from the impacts of helicopter-supported recreation.
Finally, this report was funded in large part by the Alaska Conservation Foundation. We would like to thank them for their very generous assistance.
Board of Directors Alaska Quiet Rights Coalition
You can contact AQRC through our website Contact US
ALASKA QUIET RIGHTS COALITION MEMBERSHIP FORM
To join the Alaska Quiet Rights Coalition, please print and fill-out this page and send with your check to:
Alaska Quiet Rights Coalition
P.O. Box 202592
Anchorage, AK 99520
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