The Bureau of Land Management’s recent decision to permit commercial helicopter landings on a block of the agency’s land south of town has raised questions about the Haines Borough’s authority to regulate heli-skiing on federal lands.
According to five GPS spot checks conducted in April and May, Southeast Alaska Backcountry Adventures twice landed outside of the borough-approved heli-ski map in an area referred to by BLM as the “south block.” Although the landings were outside…