[Bob Kuczewski]

I got an email message a few hours ago from one of our members containing this message from USHPA:

From: USHPA: US Hang Gliding & Paragliding Assn.<info@ushpa.aero>
Date: Thu, Jan 17, 2019, 18:17
Subject: Help Preserve Access to King Mountain Flying Site!

Help Preserve Access to King Mountain!
Forest Service: Call for Comments (Deadline this Saturday)

Dear USHPA member,

The Salmon-Challis National Forest in Idaho, which includes the King Mountain flying site, is revising its forest management plan. The new plan will recommend that certain areas be designated as wilderness and will guide resource management for the next 15 years.

King Mountain, a H4/P4 site, is located within the wilderness evaluation area. If the mountain were to be designated as a wilderness area, roads to launch would be closed and launching would be prohibited, likely ending pilots' access to the site.

We ask that as many members as possible submit a comment to the Forest Service emphasizing the value of King Mountain as a flying site for hang gliders and paragliders. This includes road access to King Mountain launch and the airspace above the surrounding areas, including the Lost River and the Lemhi Range.

Comments were originally accepted until 1/31/2019, but now are being requested by THIS SATURDAY 1/19/2019. Our apologies for the late notice, but please submit a comment as soon as you can.

Comment deadline: 1/19/2019 (this Saturday!)

Submit a comment: http://bit.ly/SCNFFPRCommentTool or http://bit.ly/SCNFWildernessStoryMap

You may also email scnf_plan_rev@fs.fed.us with your comments.

More information:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DO ... 601995.pdf

http://bit.ly/SCNFWildernessStoryMap

https://www.federalregister.gov/documen ... evelopment

If you have any questions, please contact John Kangas, the developer of the King Mountain Glider Park, at (208) 407-7174.

I attended one of the King Mountain meets around the time that I was Regional Director (2009 or 2010) and I'd met John Kangas, so I called him a few hours ago. We had a good conversation (over an hour), and I think it would be helpful for our member's to let the National Forest Service know that we are very much interested in maintaining hang gliding access to the King Mountain flying site.

[Bob Kuczewski]

I just sent this email message:

January 19, 2019, 4:37 PM
To: Salmon-Challis National Forest. scnf_plan_rev@fs.fed.us
Attn.: Plan Revision, 1206 South Challis Street, Salmon, Idaho, 83467

Hello Friends at the U.S. National Forest Service,

First let me thank you for your many decades of preserving and managing our national lands for recreational use by citizens of the United States. As our population grows, fewer and fewer of us are able to personally own the kinds of land that we would like to enjoy for recreational activities. We increasingly rely on our use of shared public lands for such recreational use. This means that we also increasingly rely on the National Forest Service as well. Thank you.

In that spirit, am writing to ask that the recreational activity of hang gliding be fairly included in your future plans for the Salmon-Challis National Forest. In particular, I am writing to ask that hang gliding access remain available at the hang gliding site known as "King Mountain" in Idaho.

The sport of hang gliding is relatively tiny. Unlike many other uses (hiking, trail riding, off-roading), the sport of hang gliding relies very heavily on unique terrain features and weather conditions that are highly localized at specific sites. King Mountain is one of those sites, and that's why it's celebrated as a nationally recognized hang gliding site. In fact, King Mountain has hosted our U.S. National hang gliding championship meets in the past and I expect that it will again. My first hang gliding flights at King Mountain were during one of those championship meets many years ago.

I would also like to make the case that hang gliding is a very gentle use of our public lands. We typically use one "drive" vehicle to carry a number of pilots and their gliders to launch. The vehicle is generally driven very carefully because of the somewhat fragile gliders on its roof. The route is also as short and direct as possible. Hang gliding pilots want to get into the air as soon as possible without any diversions on the ground. And once in the air, we can enjoy our public spaces for hours and hours without leaving a single footprint or a single broken twig.

For all of these reasons, I ask that continued recreational hang gliding use be permanently and prominently featured in any future plans for King Mountain and for all U.S. National Forests and Parks.

Sincerely,
Bob Kuczewski
Board Member - U.S. Hawks Hang Gliding Association

[Bob Kuczewski]

Update from https://www.flykingmountain.com/:

UPDATE: COMMENT PERIOD EXTENDED

Comments can be submitted up to May 31, 2019

Submit Your Own Comments:
https://cara.ecosystem-management.org/P ... ject=49464

This Notice was sent to USHPA Members, and other soaring pilots.

The Salmon-Challis National Forest in Idaho, which includes the King Mountain flying site, is revising its forest management plan. The new plan will recommend that certain areas be designated as wilderness and will guide resource management for the next 15 years.

King Mountain, a H4/P4 site, is located within the wilderness evaluation area. If the mountain were to be designated as a wilderness area, roads to launch would be closed and launching would be prohibited, likely ending pilots’ access to the site.

We ask that as many members as possible submit a comment to the Forest Service emphasizing the value of King Mountain as a flying site for hang gliders and paragliders. This includes road access to King Mountain launch and the airspace above the surrounding areas, including the Lost River and the Lemhi Range.

Now that the comment period has been extended please submit a comment. Add your comment to the 796 comments already posted as of 3-3-2019.

You can read posted comments here:
https://cara.ecosystem-management.org/P ... ject=49464

Updated Comment deadline:

5/31/2019 please submit your own comments.

Submit a comment:
http://bit.ly/SCNFFPRCommentTool

You may also email
scnf_plan_rev@fs.fed.us
with your comments.

More information:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DO ... 601995.pdf
http://bit.ly/SCNFWildernessStoryMap
https://www.federalregister.gov/documen ... evelopment

If you have any questions, please contact John Kangas, the developer of the King Mountain Glider Park, at (208) 407-7174.

Please comment. Soon.

Please mention two previous precedents:

The In Southern California the Boxer-McKeon Wilderness Bill of 2008 created 470,000 acres of new wilderness in the Inyo and White Mountains, while preserving access to hang glider launches, preserving the launches (Paiute, Gunter and Gunter bail-out, Mazourka, Mt Tom, McGee) by excluding these roads and launches from the wilderness (called cherry-stemming).

In Northern CA, a few years ago, when large areas of the Mendocino National Forest became part of the Snow Mountain Wilderness Area, including the part where we had a built our (FS Service permitted) launch ramp on, St John Mountain. The hang gliding and paragliding launch areas, roads, and ramps were excluded from the Wilderness area.

Thanks.