Listen up, senators

We’ve been wondering just how many national parks Oregon’s two senators have visited.

Of course Oregon only has the one — Crater Lake.

Still and all, we figured Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley had traveled rather more extensively.

The occasion that piqued our curiosity about the senators’ experience with national parks was their touting of a piece of legislation they introduced recently.

This bill, which passed the Senate but is pending in the House, would allow the National Park Service to decide whether to prohibit a Bend company, Leading Edge Aviation, from taking visitors to Crater Lake National Park on flights following the Rim Road that encircles the lake.

But two aspects of the senators’ proposal irk us.

First, the legislation authorizes the Park Service to deny Leading Edge Aviation a permit without actually writing an air tour management plan for Crater Lake.

In other words, those helicopters are too loud because Oregon’s two senators said they’re too loud. There’s no need for fancy devices such as decibel meters.

Second, a statement by Wyden suggests to us that the senator knows little about what goes on in national parks.

“I see this as a first step in keeping our national parks free of noise pollution that can ruin visitors’ experience of our national treasures,” Wyden said. “Future generations should be able to travel there without noise disruptions and enjoy the same experience travelers from all over the world see today.”

We’re not sure which national parks the senator is talking about.

But apparently he wasn’t referring to Yosemite or Grand Canyon or Glacier or Yellowstone, none of which, by the most generous standards, could be described as utterly tranquil.

Millions of people visit those parks each year, and almost all of them get there in cars.

Which, you’ve probably noticed, are not silent.

Nor is the kid who’s bawling because his parents won’t buy him an ice cream at the lodge.

Crater Lake, which attracted 446,000 visitors last year, is no Yellowstone (3.4 million) or Grand Canyon (4.3 million), certainly.

But there is that road around the lake’s rim. And it’s open to every sort of vehicle.

Travis Warthen, Leading Edge’s vice president, says his company’s helicopters would fly 1,500 feet above the Rim Road, and that the sound, heard on the ground, would be equivalent to a car driving past.

We don’t know if that’s true.

But the federal government has an obligation to test Warthen’s claim before rejecting his proposal to operate a business that’s just as legitimate as piloting tour boats on the lake or operating the Crater Lake Lodge.

Both of those services are provided in the park by a private company. But apparently Wyden and Merkley don’t think boats or 70-room lodges disrupt the natural sanctity of Crater Lake.

In the end, Warthen’s simple request is fair: “If the park now does a noise assessment and determines (the proposed flights) are not a compatible use, then we’ll go away,” he said.

Crater Lake Superintendent Craig Ackerman said officials plan to conduct a noise study this year. We hope they get out in the park and listen. Better that than to rely on the words of senators who seem to think such an effort is unnecessary.