Speak Up for Peaceful Skies
© Turtle Southern
Air Force plan threatens people, wildlife, and wild nature in southern Arizona and southwest New Mexico
The U.S. Air Force has unveiled an outrageous plan to dramatically expand low-elevation military flight training across southern Arizona and southwest New Mexico. Supersonic flights would create terrifying shock waves called sonic booms, strong enough to rattle windows and spook wildlife. Flight paths would be lowered from the existing level of 30,000 feet down to 5,000 feet, and in some areas, training would be permissible a mere 100 feet above the ground. This would impact wilderness areas, rural communities, and sovereign Tribal nations.
Many who live near the town of Portal, Arizona, in the Chiricahua Mountains, have already experienced F16 fighter jets flying low through Cave Creek Canyon. Residents will be inside their homes, going about their day, when out of nowhere a piercing, deafening scream thunders above. They instinctually duck and cower indoors; the noise is all-encompassing as it reverberates off the canyon walls. Imagine walking along a remote, scenic trail when this happens. Imagine how that might frighten wildlife. The aircraft in the Air Force’s proposed plan, according to their statistics, are five to ten times as loud as the F16. (Complaints about current fighter jet incursions into unauthorized airspace above Portal have gone unanswered by the Air Force.)
Ten existing Military Operations Areas (MOA) that stretch across southern Arizona and southwest New Mexico currently have proposed expansions as part of the agency’s Special Use Optimization Strategy. The planned actions pose severe risks to rural communities, Tribal Nations, and millions of acres of federal public lands, including national forests, wilderness areas, national monuments, and wildlife refuges.
Beyond the Chiricahua and Peloncillo Mountains near the U.S.-Mexico border, this plan’s reach extends north to the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico and across the Mogollon wildway to the San Carlos and White Mountain Apache Nations. To the west, the Tohono O’odham Nation would be heavily impacted as well. Many of these proposed flight areas are disproportionately located over Tribal lands and affect 30 Tribes and pueblos with traditional ties to the region.
Sonic booms would echo through more than 1.2 million acres of Congressionally designated wilderness, disturbing dozens of endangered and threatened species like the Mexican spotted owl and Sonoran pronghorn. Several of the areas are critical habitat for Mexican gray wolves and jaguars. The Air Force has not adequately evaluated the impacts of its plan on animal behavior and has not considered the incremental and cumulative effects on these species.
“Research conducted in the 1960s and 1970s by the Air Force, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Ecology Research Center found that ‘effects of aircraft noise and sonic booms on wildlife include such nonauditory effects as stress, behavioral changes, interference with mating, and detrimental changes in the ability to obtain sufficient food, water, and cover’.” – Sam Carliner, Truthout
The number of low-level combat training missions would increase in each of the 10 MOAs, with the most significant increase in the Tombstone MOA to 8,000 flights per year (131 percent increase). Fighter jets over the Tombstone MOA would be authorized to fly as low as 100 feet above ground level at speeds exceeding 600 miles per hour. This area would experience sonic booms from as low as 5,000 feet, and up to 30,000 flares and 7,000 chaff bundles would be released as low as 2,000 feet. These last two actions would increase wildfire risk in an already vulnerable landscape and authorize dropping aluminum-coated silica fibers made to disrupt radar systems, “chaff,” which would pollute the environment and endanger public health.
The Air Force has also not properly analyzed the social, cultural, and economic consequences for rural communities, which could be devastating. In the Tombstone MOA, multiple towns depend on ecotourism and recreation as the basis of their economy. Portal is a destination for birders, hikers, and naturalists from around the world, and residents fear the appeal of tourism will fade. The military disturbances would further impact domestic animals, real estate values, and create conflicts with existing land use such as ranching and farming.
This dangerous plan needs to be stopped. If you love or care about the people, wildlife, and wild nature of these places, please speak up and submit written comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement by October 9, 2024. Tell the Air Force that expanding military combat training over rural communities and Tribal and public lands is not acceptable.
Your comments can be submitted online here. You can also sign an online petition here.
More information, sample comments, and ways to get involved can be found at www.peacefulchiricahuaskies.com and www.peacefulgilaskies.com.
Information compiled from the Center for Biological Diversity and Peaceful Chiricahua Skies.
