I was unaware of the RAF and its efforts. Thanks for the link. I just became a
donor member.
Dick O'Reilly
________________________________
From: Alan Cossitt <
alan.cossitt@frontier.com>
To: "
Earthstar_Aircraft@yahoogroups.com" <
Earthstar_Aircraft@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wed, December 21, 2011 12:20:45 PM
Subject: Re: [Earthstar_Aircraft] FW: Owyhee River Airstrips--update
Yes. I am the RAF Oregon Liaison.
-Alan Cossitt
>From my iPhone. Please excuse typos and terseness.
503.816.5930
On Dec 21, 2011, at 7:55 AM, "Riley" <
rileydidit@gmail.com> wrote:
>Are you guys aware of, and working with the RAF (Recreational Aviation
>Foundation) on this? This is exactly the kind of thing they are actively
>working on, and the reason for their being.
>
http://theraf.org/content/about-raf A great bunch of fliers who have already
>been quite successful at keeping backcountry strips open, and even establishing
>new ones.
>
>Riley
>
><Gee%20Bee%20Zee%20Jpeg.jpg>
>
>
>
>From: Alan Cossitt
>Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2011 8:41 PM
>To:
Earthstar_Aircraft@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [Earthstar_Aircraft] FW: Owyhee River Airstrips--update
>
>
>
>
>
________________________________
From: william miller [mailto:
millerwilliamc@msn.com]
>Sent: Monday, December 19, 2011 20:20
>To: Ables Bill; Bement Bob; Blackwell Jack; Boyer Tom; Collins Paul; Cossitt
>Alan; Dory Joe; Emmons DuWaine; Jarecki Chuck; Johnson Steve; McKenna John;
>Olson Phil; Smith Dennis; Smith Roger; Thiel Wayne D; Vawter Russ; Williams Dick
>Subject: Owyhee River Airstrips--update
>
>
>Hello All:
>
>In 1984 Congress designated The Owyhee River as a wild river under the Wild and
>Scenic Rivers Act. In 1993 the BLM (Vale District) published their Resource
>Management Plan for the Wild Owyhee River, and in it banned aircraft landings on
>some historic airfields. Many of you have volunteered to help us collect usage
>history on the Owyhee River airstrips, and several of you have already responded
>to our call, and have provided some very useful information. Thank you!
>
>We have asked the BLM for documents pertaining to their developing the
>Management plan. We believe aviation users were not invited to the hearings and
>planning sessions, and that the BLM made their decision to ban landings without
>input from pilots or aviation organizations. We are also collecting information
>from BLM regulations to determine if they can actually ban landings in a ‘Wild
>River’ corridor--which is a different animal than a ‘Wilderness Area.’
>
>
>The BLM has just determined that our request for documents under the Freedom of
>Information Act can be supplied without charge, and they are working now to
>provide answers to our questions. Furthermore, the Vale District office has, at
>our request, recently removed the obstructing boulders off the closed ‘Pinnacle
>Ranch’ airstrip (as it’s popularly called). As the documents become available,
>as more pilots report their history of using the Owyhee airstrips, and as we
>evaluate BLM regulations, we will be positioned to meet again with the BLM and
>ask for some relief from the closures. We believe the closures were incorrect,
>and also improper because of not having any aviators at the planning table when
>the 1993 plan was being prepared. Our best case will be helped by establishing
>the fact that there was much usage of the airfields, particularly before and up
>to 1993. Our next meeting with the BLM will be some time after the first of
>2012, but it will take time. Time well spent to do the job right, I believe.
>
>Thanks for your help with this important airstrip re-opening project. Encourage
>your pilot friends to report to me—in an e-mail is perfectly fine. Let us
>know: their name, address, landing sites and dates, how often they landed, and
>their recreational usage of the Owyhee River. This is especially important, for
>the BLM has to provide recreational opportunities along the River, and showing
>that access by aircraft allows us pilots to recreate is an important argument
>for re-opening the airfields. Here is an excerpt from a recent well-written
>report:
> ”...about thirty years ago I was flying up to the managed airstrips along the
>Owyhee, especially at the "Hole-in-the-Wall" and Birch Creek, as well as the
>strip at the start of the Owyhee lake and the graded airstrip downstream from
>the
>Birch Creek airstrip. I used to be going in and out on a fairly frequent
>basis. Then, one day in the fall about 15 years ago or so the airstrips at
>Birch Creek and the Hole-in-the-Wall were closed! Not x-ed off, just "stuff"
>put on the strips with no notification. Indeed, the one at Birch Creek is
>still listed as a developed and registered airstrip! I thought they were put
>that way to be developed, but they were never re-opened and from what I know it
>was the BLM that shut them down on their own. I certainly to this date have had
>no explanation!”
>
>If you have already provided your input—thanks; if not, please do so before much
>longer. Obviously this is a ‘bulk’ letter, and I apologize for that.
>
>
>On behalf of the Idaho Aviation Association, Idaho Aviation Foundation, the
>Oregon Pilots Association, and the Recreational Aviation Foundation,
> Bill Miller
> VP, Governmental Affairs
>Idaho Aviation Association
>5625 W Beachfront Ln. 208 853-8585; 208 409-5713
> BOISE ID 83703
millerwilliamc@msn.com
> <clip_image002[2].gif>
________________________________
>No virus found in this message.
>Checked by AVG -
www.avg.com
>Version: 10.0.1415 / Virus Database: 2108/4090 - Release Date: 12/19/11
________________________________
>No virus found in this message.
>Checked by AVG -
www.avg.com
>Version: 10.0.1415 / Virus Database: 2108/4092 - Release Date: 12/20/11