2012: In the Backcountry
Mark Spencer
It’s been an incredible year in the Arizona backcountry! For Arizona pilots it’s been a year of progress, but believe me when I say, it’s been full of ups and downs. One day I’d feel higher, well than a Cub, and the next like someone had kicked me in the gut. The words offered by President John McKenna of the RAF, “Remember it’s a marathon, not a sprint,” were timely and encouraging, but the new friendships we have gained provided the greatest motivation and reward. These friendships spanned across aviation groups like the RAF, the APA, AOPA, and many of you backcountry pilots, but perhaps most unexpected, those friendships within the Forest Service. It has been humbling for me to sit back and watch as forest service personnel actually advocate for the pilot community’s cause from within their own organization and circles of influence. Without their support I have no doubt we’d still be dreaming about visiting some of the airstrips we now use openly, and often times with the Forest Service (FS) folks in attendance. Of course, pilots and those who love pilots, had a most important role to play in earning the friendship and trust of the Forest Service. You came with your sleeves rolled up at volunteer work events, attended events and offered rides to locals and off duty FS folks. Some of you flew volunteer rogue livestock recon flights for Cave Creek District Ranger Congdon, and some even drove to events in order to support and ensure the success of these events! If leaving your airplane at home and driving to an event is not sacrifice, I am not sure what is!
With the help of the RAF, the APA Backcountry Committee, and members of both organizations, events we held across the state, from the Grand Gulch site north of the canyon to the Double Circle Ranch in the Southeast. We had a year full of events. In one week, actually a three day period, I flew to Grapevine for a meeting with DR Jardine on Friday morning, flew back home, took a nap, hopped into the Cub and flew to Negrito for a night with the NMPA and a few friends from AZ. Then with an early breakfast on Saturday, I was off to AZ with a caravan of 9 New Mexico aircraft and 17 pilots to the Double Circle where we joined 20 other aircraft and another 40 pilots and locals for our first official event at that site, whew! Enough cannot be said about those APA and RAF members who gave of themselves throughout the year, many more times than once. Tommy Thomason, Rich Finkle, Paul and Charlie Pitkin, Ty and Tory Greenwade, Ken and Lori Nebring, Dale Jenson, Gene Moreman, Mike Andresen, Gordon Rock, Wayne Loeber, Wayne Fletcher and Sandra, and many more. So many others gave of their own finances, time, and labor to make this year what it was.
On the surface, it probably appeared pretty rosy out there, but behind the scenes we had a number of critical challenges this year. The first of these challenges should have been purely positive, or at least we thought, but it just wasn’t that simple! Late last year, in the FS appropriations bill, the RAF managed to get a requirement for an inventory to be taken of all airstrips on FS lands across the country. We looked forward to this taking place, but when the RAF passed along a copy of what had been submitted to Washington, and not a single AZ airstrip was on it, I was upset, to say the least. I began to make calls all the way to Washington, the regional office in ABQ, and the District Rangers here in the field. At the same time John McKenna visited Washington, DC, and leadership at the FS and Department of Agriculture. This inventory requirement became a challenge for the FS in regions where aviation is not a prevalent activity. There was simply not much explanation given at the regional or local levels as to its purpose. The polarization within the FS, those for and against, or at least skeptical of, aviation began to wrestle the various issues on the table and what became most obvious was that there was no clear and consistent policy on backcountry aviation. In the end, after several weeks of internal discussions, seasoned with input from the APA and RAF, we received a call from the aviation lead in the regional office in ABQ explaining that a single point of contact, the region 3 recreation lead Francisco Valenzuela, would be providing interface, guidance, and an attempt to bring consistency for recreational aviation issues in our region. After a couple of e-mails, Francisco and I had a very positive telephone conversation and penciled in a face to face meeting in January in ABQ. Francisco appeared very knowledgeable about recreational aviation and how it was being handled on other regions where it has become accepted and popular. We expect that Francisco will bring a positive influence from the regional office.
The Tonto also announced a new Supervisor this year, Neil Bosworth, and he almost immediately began to hear from his staff in Phoenix about the growing aviation activity on the Tonto. Since the District Rangers (DRs) we work with in the field had only positive experiences with the pilot community, they felt no immediate need to share this experience with the new supervisor. To everyone’s surprise, the APA received a letter from Supervisor Bosworth that pretty much told us the Grapevine Airstrip was still officially closed, and we received and e-mail from DR Congdon asking us to terminate our recon flights for her, also a request of the new Supervisor. In our response letter, we offered to meet in person and he responded with eagerness to do so. In the meantime, the DR’s went to bat filling him in on their experience with us. These same DRs spoke highly of Supervisor Bosworth and expected things to work out. I flew to Phoenix on December 5th to meet Supervisor Bosworth who, indeed, was a friendly, unassuming fellow with a welcoming grin and demeanor. It was obvious that he had heard a lot of positive feedback about the pilot community from his District Rangers as we discussed the various aspects and strategies to move forward with the airstrips on the Tonto. He introduced me to his Deputy Supervisor and Planner, and asked that I return soon to “hammer out the nuts & bolts” of operating and maintaining these airstrips with his staff. Perhaps most encouraging were Neil’s parting words, “Mark, if I haven’t been clear enough, not only do I want to partner with the pilot community, I need to.” Neil is painfully aware of the ever shrinking budget and the growing need for partnering with volunteers like those of the pilot community. I left this meeting feeling as if I had gained yet another new friend in the FS.
Last, but certainly not least, we received a call from the Clifton district office with an invitation to do a presentation for the Apache Sitgreaves Forest leadership at the Double Circle airstrip and historic ranch in January. This is a terrific breakthrough, and will be our chance at conveying our vision of preserving this incredible place through the pilot community’s willingness to contribute finances and volunteer labor. The Double Circle location has the potential to become one of the greatest aviation sites in the southwest and that will only be possible with the involvement of the APA, RAF, and pilot communities around the country.
I know many of you are wondering what is happening with Tuweep, and I can tell you that we are moving forward towards an agreement to re-open this famous airstrip. In fact, the next meeting is on December 20th. Hopefully we’ll make some sort of announcement shortly.
Okay, enough of the drudgery and on to the fun stuff, the pilot community’s accomplishments this year:
• Re-opened Double Circle Ranch airstrip and historic site on the Apache Sitgreaves NF.
• Participated in a major National Public Land’s Day event at Double Circle, leading to a positive article in the regional newsletter and an invitation to meet forest leadership.
• Formalized public use weekends at the Grapevine airstrip on the Tonto NF at Roosevelt Lake.
• Worked with FS to remove trees along the runway at Grapevine.
• Worked with FS and locals to grade and groom Pleasant Valley (24AZ) in Young, AZ.
• Worked with various FS personnel at Regional, Washington Office, and local levels to ensure the national airstrip inventory was accurate and complete.
• Initiated discussion with Kaibab National Forest on potential re-opening of two airstrips on the Kaibab.
• Provided comments on the Kaibab National Forest Plan revision.
• Initiated a relationship with the Southwest Regional Recreation Director and scheduled meeting in January 2013.
• Multiple successful, fun, and well attended backcountry fly-in events.
• Negotiated the use of the FS logo on pilot briefing pamphlets.
• Gained approval to enter a lease agreement on Tuweep with next meeting scheduled for December 20th.
• Initiated interest in Grand Gulch Airstrip leading to formal agreement with BLM between RAF and the BLM and Park Service.
• Inspired new life for AZ backcountry resulting in growth of the Arizona Pilots Association.
Mark Spencer
APA Vice President
RAF Liaison, AZ