Helicopter training area in final stages

Nebraska National Guard finishes extensive environmental study

By Deb Egenberger

November 17, 2007

After more than four years of planning, studying, discussing and still more planning, it looks as though the Nebraska National Guard may have a new helicopter training area as early as next month.

The comment period on the final environmental assessment ends Thursday and Lt. Col. Lynn Heng, environmental program manager for the Nebraska National Guard, believes federal approval will follow for the 900-square mile area southwest of Gothenburg.

“The current environmental assessment is tremendously more in-depth than the previous document,” Heng said. “We now have an extensive list of mitigating factors that take into account rural residents, livestock and sensitive wildlife habitats.”

In other words, the National Guard has tried to work with landowners and multiple government agencies for the best solution to all concerns voiced over the past 10 years.

“The residents, the birds, the beetles and the government agencies charged with protecting them all have had an equal say in this,” Heng said.

The proposed area is south of Highway 30 between Gothenburg and North Platte. Highway 47 and Highway 83 serve as east and west borders while Medicine Creek is the south boundary. The area covers parts of Lincoln, Frontier and Dawson counties.

In 2003, residents were given the opportunity to ask questions about the training area and choose no-fly zones over their land.

“We have tried to address all significant concerns,” Heng said.

The National Guard officer said he was raised on a farm, has been a pilot in the Guard for 17 years and is an environmental program manager.

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“I like to think I have a pretty good grasp of all areas on this project,” he said. “We’ve done an incredible amount of studying and rewriting.”

The training area will encompass both public and private land used for low-level helicopter exercises.

No training, Heng said, will be conducted within a quarter-mile of any residence or concentration of cattle.

“That’s just one item on a list of hundreds of mitigating factors,” Heng said.

Heng said the National Guard has done careful research to preserve the integrity of the local environment.

Eagle wintering periods, raptor nesting areas, whooping crane migration patterns, American burying beetle populations and deer/elk hunting and breeding seasons have all been taken into account.

“We worked with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,” Heng said. “We spent a lot of time trying to make this as palpable as possible for all involved.”

Training flight restrictions have been placed on key times of year, hours of each day and distances from ground to reduce impact.

Heng said three types of heli-copters are likely to use the area—Blackhawk, Kiowa and Chinook—training for emergency procedures and low-level combat tactics.

No live or practice ammunition will be used during exercises, Heng said, and landing will only be done on pre-approved land or in case of emergency.

With the exhausting list of restrictions and the draft finding of no significant impact, the training site could be activated as soon as December, Heng said.

“But we’re not going to be flying out there every day and there will be no sudden infestation of aircraft,” he said. “Honestly, we hope to be barely noticeable.”