SB 2535 would hamper search and rescue operations and fighting forest fires
    Limited and restricted motor vehicle access
    Limited and restricted helicopter flyovers

Rebuttal 

The assertion that wilderness designation restricts helicopter flyovers is false.

• Overflights of wilderness by any arcraft are not restricted except to recommend (not require) a minimum altitude of 2,000 feet above the surface to limit noise on the ground.


• Landings normally are prohibited in wilderness, but all laws and policies regulating wilderness land use contain exceptions for emergency response.  This includes search and rescue and firefighting.

Flight of all aircraft, including helicopters, is regulated by the Federal Aviation Adminiistration through a portion of the Code of Federal Regulations normally called the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs).  No provision in the FARs prohibits flight over a wilderness area.  In fact, the two wilderness areas nearest Lake Tahoe, the Desolation Wilderness and the Granite Chief Wilderness, are crossed by several Low Altitude Federal Airways, two of which terminate at a VOR it the boundary of the Granite Chief Wilderness area.  (VOR is a radio navigation aid, VHF Omni Range.)

This sample illustrates how these two wilderness areas and the airways above them are depicted on an aviation sectional chart.  None of the markings used to identify special-use airspace are present, except that coincidentally the edges of two types of airspace surrounding the South Lake Taho airport overlap a small part of the Desolation Wilderness Area. The airways are marked by the broad, straight, shaded lines.  Where three airways enter the Granite Chief Wilderness area, they are not depicted within the heading circle associated with the VOR a radio navigational aid, a VOR (VHF Omni Range). This chart fragment is shown to illustrate airspace markings over wilderness areas, it is not to be used for navigation or flight planning.

The chart does identify wilderness areas in order to denote them as noise-sensitive and specifies elsewhere that all aircraft are requested [not required] to maintain a minimum altitude of 2,000 feet above the surface in these areas.
Landing normally is prohibited by regulation of the agency which controls the wilderness area itself:  The FAA has authority in the air, other agencies govern the ground.  However, the 1964 Wilderness Act and the policies of all agencies which may be responsible for that land have explicit exemptions from landing of aircraft and other restrictions for purposes of rescue, firefighting, and other emergencies.  See Search and Rescue & Firefighting for quotes of the law and policies for this.

The Federal Aviation Regulations do define one special flight rules area associated with parkland.  Special regulation (SFAR) No. 50-2 defines airspace in the area of the Grand Canyon for which special flight limitations apply.  This regulation's principle purpose is to assure safety of flight due to the high traffic level of tourist flights in this limited volume of airspace.  This regulation was adopted following a fatal mid-air collision between an airplane and a helicopter.  However, this applies only to the Grand Canyon area.