Loretta Zahner

To whom it may concern:
Our National Parks in Hawaii deserve protective and enforceable Air Tour Management Plans (ATMPs). The public expects to be able to experience these park resources against a backdrop of silence and natural sound; both have become increasingly rare in the Hawaii parks.
Flight numbers over the Hawaiian National Parks must be set at levels that will protect the parks' natural and cultural resources. I ask that you cap at their current levels the number of flights until you have developed standards to protect natural quiet for each park.
The public needs information it does not now have if it is to participate effectively in these decisions. Please provide, before you release the draft environmental assessment, acoustical data that have been evaluated by an agency independent of both the National Park Service and the Federal Aviation Administration. The analysis should assess the impact of sound on natural and cultural resources, wildlife, wilderness, viewsheds and the visitor experience. Its availability should be published in the Federal Register. I also ask that you provide the public the business names of existing air tour operators, flight routes, elevations and times. Please publish the availability of this information in the Federal Register.
Today, 30,000 unregulated flights a year use the air space over Hawaii Volcanoes. That number is outrageous, amounting to 80 flights daily or one every 5 minutes along the park's eastern boundary. The situation at Haleakala is nearly as bad with 25,000 daily flights.
I urge you to restore natural quiet for 75 percent of every day. I also strongly urge you to impose curfews to ban flights for two hours after sunrise and for two hours before sunset. These are the prime viewing hours at day's beginning and end when park visitors should be allowed to experience the parks' quiet majesty most of all.
The ATMP must clearly identify designated flight paths that best protect park resources and visitors' experiences, as well as communities along the routes. Route designations and curfews can mitigate the worst impacts that now affect the Hawaii parks; foresight can ensure that parks now free of them stay that way.
Finally, for the six National Park System units in Hawaii, please permanently ban flights over:
- all wilderness areas;
- culturally-sensitive sites native people have identified for traditional ceremonial use; and,
- important biological zones, such as habitat for the Kipuka-Ki and breeding grounds for the Hawaiian goose.
Sincerely,
Loretta Zahner