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Wilderness Watch has long called on the U.S. Forest Service (FS) to permanently close unauthorized backcountry airstrips in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness (FC-RONRW) in Idaho. At 2.4 million acres, the FC-RONRW is one of the wildest, as well as the largest contiguous Wilderness in the lower 48, and is important habitat for wolves, elk, black bears, mountain lions, and other native wildlife. Some airstrips remain open even though they were not in regular public use at the time of wilderness designation and should have been permanently closed decades ago.
Adding insult to injury, the state of Idaho is proposing to restore an unused airstrip—the abandoned Hoodoo Meadows Airstrip—which sits at 8,200 feet and is immediately adjacent to and surrounded by the FC-RONRW (the airstrip is located at the end of a “cherrystem” road carved from the Wilderness). The high elevation and physical surroundings make the safety of this airstrip questionable.
In the 1980s, the FS started the process of permanently closing the airstrip, and it became overgrown with trees and unusable. However, now the agency claims there are no records of its past efforts to close the strip, and has approved a plan for the maintenance needed to restore and use the airstrip. The approval was granted via a categorical exclusion, without any analysis of the negative impacts to Wilderness.
Please urge the Forest Service and the ID Department of Transportation to permanently close the Hoodoo Meadows Airstrip. Comments are due Monday, March, 29, 2021.
Re-opening the long-abandoned Hoodoo Meadows Airstrip, with its estimated 50-70 yearly takeoffs and landings, would have major impacts on the area’s wild character, which already suffers from ongoing and increasing noise and intrusion from other backcountry airstrips. The Forest Service is also considering cutting trees in the Wilderness to make the approach safe. Additionally, the airstrip would facilitate increased access to and use of the Wilderness’s already most-visited area—the Bighorn Crags. The last thing the Wilderness and its wildlife need are more impacts from aircraft and increased human use.
Decades ago the Forest Service began the process of closing the Hoodoo Meadow Airstrip. It's long past time to permanently close this airstrip, and to allow the area to revert back to its natural state so it can be a refuge for wildlife and visitors seeking solitude, rather than a noisy and inappropriate aircraft landing and takeoff site.
Please urge the Forest Service and the ID Department of Transportation to permanently close the Hoodoo Meadows Airstrip.
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