By Ruth Brown, Idaho Reports
Four advocacy groups filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service and Payette National Forest leadership on Tuesday over landings granted to hobby pilots who use the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness.
The groups, Wilderness Watch, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Friends of the Bitterroot, and Friends of the Clearwater, claim the Forest Service unlawfully established and maintained four locations in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness for aircraft landings.
The designated wilderness area includes 2.3 million acres of land, four national forests, mountainous terrain, and two forks of the Salmon River.
“The Forest Service has long bowed to pressure from aviators,” the plaintiffs said in a news release Tuesday. “Years ago, rather than state clearly its determination that these sites were closed to all landings, the agency labeled them ‘emergency use only,’ a phrase that pilots have long chosen to ignore, instead treating the sites as open for public use.”
The complaint points to the 1980 Central Idaho Wilderness Act (CIWA) and refers to the four airstrips as the “Big Creek Four.”
“Increasing aircraft use of the Big Creek Four is impairing wilderness character, disturbing wildlife, increasing human impact, and interrupting the statutorily-protected solitude and undeveloped nature of the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness. Aircraft landings at these locations are unlawful, as they meet none of the narrow criteria in CIWA’s special provision that excepted some aircraft access from the Wilderness Act’s ban,” the complaint alleges.
“The Forest Service’s unlawful actions are trammeling upon the legacy of former United States Sen. Frank Church and other conservation visionaries,” senior attorney Laurie Rule at Advocates for the West said in a news release. “Catering to an escalating number of recreational pilots wanting to make Wilderness their motorized playground flies in the face of the agency’s duty under to the law to manage wild places like the River of No Return Wilderness in their natural state.”
Among other demands, the complaint asks the court to stop the Forest Service from actively maintaining or authorizing third-party maintenance at the Big Creek Four airstrips, except for emergency landings.
The U.S. Forest Service had not filed a response to the lawsuit as of Tuesday afternoon.
Ruth Brown | Producer
Ruth Brown grew up in South Dakota and her first job out of college was covering the South Dakota Legislature. She’s since moved on to Idaho lawmakers. Brown spent 10 years working in print journalism, including newspapers such as the Idaho Statesman and Idaho Press, where she’s covered everything from the correctional system to health care issues. She joined Idaho Reports in 2021 and looks forward to telling stories about how state policy can impact the lives of regular Idahoans.
