Low-Altitude Jets and Sonic Booms Don’t Belong in the Wild

The US Air Force released an announcement Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) proposes a major increase in low-level jet training flights over more than 1.2 million acres of designated Wilderness in Southern Arizona and Southwestern New Mexico. Such activity would fragment the region’s natural sounds, ruin the wilderness experience for visitors, and stress local wildlife.

We need your help to keep the Air Force’s low-altitude jets, sonic booms, and supersonic flights out of this Wilderness by October 9!

Endangered Wilderness areas include the Gila and Blue Range Wilderness Areas in New Mexico and the following Wilderness Areas in Arizona: Superstition, Salt River Canyon, White Canyon, Needles Eye, Aravaipa Canyon, Galiuro, Santa Teresa, Fishhooks, Bear Wallow, Escudilla, Mount Baldy, Chiracahua, Arrastra Mountains, Tres Alamos, Rawhide Mountains, Harcuvar Mountains, Swansea, Eastern Cactus Plain, Harquahala Mountains, Aubrey Peak, Upper Burro Creek, Hummingbird Springs, Organ Pipe Cactus, Cabeza Prieta, Coyote Mountains, Big Horn Mountains, Baboquivari Peak, and Pajarita Wilderness Areas. In addition to these 30 designated Wilderness Areas, this proposal also threatens the Blue Range Primitive Area and several Wilderness Study Areas.

Eighteen of these Wilderness Areas were designated by the Arizona Desert Wilderness Area Act of 1990, which unfortunately included a bad provision allowing military overflights. But that doesn’t mean the proposed action wouldn’t harm these Wilderness Areas, nor does the 1990 law give the Air Force a free pass to harm other Wilderness Areas.

The Air Force is looking to make changes to 10 Military Operations Areas (MOAs) to enhance airspace training capabilities. The Air Force wants to lower the altitudes of existing MOAs to specifically support low-altitude training (as low as 500 feet above the ground in some cases and only 100 feet above the ground in one case). The Air Force also wants to authorize supersonic training at more MOAs at lower altitudes, lower the minimum release altitude for flares, and authorize the use of chaff bundles containing up to 5 million aluminum-coated silica fibers, which are used to block radar and are designed to remain airborne for as long as possible before touching down.

The flares, made of aluminum and Teflon, are fired to fool heat-sensitive or target-seeking systems. They allegedly burn high above the ground, but there have been documented cases of them being accidentally fired at low altitudes, reaching the ground and igniting fires. Unfortunately, in 2017, an Arizona woman was burned “head to toe” when she discovered an Air Force flare near her home, which then exploded in her face, forcing her to endure a “medically induced coma for a week.”

Research documents the serious health effects of aircraft noise, including low-level supersonic jet flights, on humans and wildlife, including auditory damage and startle responses. And extreme noise disturbances can cause wildlife to abandon important habitats, affecting their ability to successfully feed, mate, nest, and raise young. For people seeking the quiet and solitude of these Wildernesses, military training exercises are always at odds with experiencing such Wilderness values ​​and should be banned.

We should not sacrifice more than 1.2 million acres of Wilderness when there are better places for this military training. The Air Force needs to hear from the public that it should not harm or degrade the wilderness of these designated Wilderness Areas with its proposal.

To help make a difference, please submit your public comments to the Air Force by October 9 at the following link: https://www.arizonaregionalairspaceeis.com/comments/. To help you, Wilderness Watch has put together this list of talking points.