[CPEO-MEF] EXPANSION: Proposed Methow Valley, Washington mountain helicopter training area

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

A military proposal to use more public lands riles locals in Washington
Residents worry about helicopters landing regularly near trails, campgrounds and wildlife.

Gloria Dickie 
High Country News
August 15, 2015 

Washington’s Methow Valley, located in the North Cascades, is often described as Seattle’s backyard playground. Here, rugged rock and ice ridgelines in the west shadow desert shrub-steppe in the east. “City folk call our area iconic,” says Lorah Super, an outfitter who has lived in the Methow for 15 years, wrangling horses and serving as camp cook in the backcountry. Over the years, the area has faced its fair share of hardship; last year, the Carlton Complex Fire swept through parts of the valley, burning away half of the houses in Super’s drainage. And now there’s a new threat to residents here and the recreationists who visit: military encroachment.  

A proposal released by the Joint Base Lewis-McChord, located about 250 miles southwest, outlines a permit application for a mountain helicopter training area in the Methow Valley. The off-base training area would be available for use day and night, 365 days a year and allow for up to 75 landings per month at seven proposed helicopter landing zones. Such training, the proposal reads, would make pilots proficient at things like pinnacle and ridgeline operations and climb-out maneuvers, at reduced costs, given shorter flight time from the base compared to training facilities in Colorado. But Methow Valley residents, like Super, say such training would have dire consequences for those who live and play in the valley. 

…

For the entire article, see
https://www.hcn.org/articles/military-seeks-helicopter-training-zones-in-washingtons-methow-valley

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Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope Street
Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650-961-8918 or 650-969-1545
Fax: 650-961-8918
LSiegel@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org

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