Question: What is ABP and what is it trying to do?

Answer: The Alliance of Backcountry Parachutists (ABP) is a recreational access organization founded in 2001 to gain backcountry parachuting access to public lands in the United States and other countries. ABP seeks access to national park systems in the United States and other countries equal to that of other recurring recreational activities that are non-powered, non-polluting, non-damaging, and minimally intrusive.

 

ABP seeks access rights and responsibilities based on the backcountry management model, not the special use permit management model.  The reason: Except for the roughly 2-3 minute period when we’re flying through the sky, we are no different than every other hiker or climber in the park. Period.  As such, ABP advocates a backcountry parachuting access model that mirrors the type of access hikers, picnickers and climbers enjoy in a given NPS unit. ABP does not seek access via the “special use permit” access mode because said model:

• Separates jumpers from other routine recurring recreational backcountry users; and
• requires that access be controlled by both NPS and/or “outfitter”-type gatekeepers – who ultimately decide who gets to jump – and who doesn't.

 

 

Question: What has ABP done so far?

Answer: ABP enlisted the help of Congressman Tom Tancredo to lead the charge against the National Park Service’s unfair and discriminatory prohibition against backcountry parachuting in its units. That prohibition was detailed in its 2001 Management Policies, Section 8.2.2.7 of which read:

• 8.2.2.7: “BASE (Buildings, Antennae, Spans Earth forms) jumping - also known as fixed object jumping - involves an individual wearing a parachute jumping from buildings, antennae, spans (bridges) and earth forms (cliffs). This is not an appropriate public use activity within national park areas and is prohibited by 36 CFR 2.17(3).”

 

Working in concert with Congressman Tancredo, and backed up by the financial and letter-writing support of jumpers worldwide, ABP achieved the following:

 

• Department of Interior – NPS’s parent agency – invited ABP to the management planning table;
• NPS asked for our input during the revision of its policies manual; and
• Eliminated blanket prohibition and institutionalized discrimination from its 2006 Management Policies, Section 8.2.2.7 of which now reads:
• 8.2.2.7     Parachuting
• Parachuting (or BASE jumping), whether from an aircraft, structure, or natural feature, is generally prohibited by 36 CFR 2.17(a)(3).  However, if determined through a park planning process to be an appropriate activity, it may be allowed pursuant to the terms and conditions of a permit.

This means ABP:

a)      Killed blanket prohibition.

b)      Put backcountry parachuting decisions back in the hands of individual superintendents, who can now say yea or nay without approval or input from HQ; and

c)      Got parachuting listed by name as an activity that can be an acceptable park use.

 

 

Question: Why doesn’t ABP issue ratings, licenses and other qualifications?

Answer: ABP is an access organization designed to gain and maintain access to jumpable cliffs on public lands in the U.S. and other countries. ABP is not designed to be a sporting association with license, ratings, rules, qualifications and currency requirements. That’s what skydiving and other aviation-based sports do, but that is not how things get done in the backcountry. 

 

ABP seeks backcountry parachuting access where jumpers blend in with other backcountry users by conducting themselves according to accepted and traditional backcountry practices and etiquette – none of which include the skydiving-like controls or the “special use permit” model as the primary means of access. ABP considers those who seek skydiving-like control and special use permit access to be:

·         uninformed about the way NPS and other related agencies operate,

·         unaware of the consequences for jumpers and for NPS of jumpers having to apply for and get a special use permit every time they want to jump, and/or

·         seeking to impose the special use system so they can determine who gets to jump – and when, and how much they get to pay for it.

 

 

Question: El Capitan is the birthplace of backcountry parachuting so why isn’t Yosemite generally – and El Capitan specifically – first on ABP’s access list?

Answer: It is basic common sense and standard management practice to test and prove new systems in smaller, less demanding environments first, then graduate to larger, more complex environments. Yosemite is not just larger and more complex than most other NPS units with jumpable cliffs; it suffers from overuse and conflicting use issues far greater than any other targeted unit, and is the only park that has a major paved road running along the bottom of its most attractive cliff, El Capitan. ABP understands the pressure faced by Yosemite managers due to these issues, along with the park’s high visibility and shrinking federal budgets for NPS generally. Consequently, ABP is focusing its Phase II access efforts on areas not so heavily impacted by visitors and conflicting use. Rest assured that ABP will address Yosemite access, but now is not the time to do so.

 

 

Question: What is ABP’s position on protest jumps from El Capitan or other NPS cliffs?

Answer: Protest jumps are not useful because there is nothing to protest. The blanket prohibition is gone and backcountry parachuting is now part of the NPS management planning process. It is now up to the backcountry parachuting community to join ABP’s Phase II access efforts to actively participate in this process. Protest jumps are the reactionary response of people who don’t know or don’t care about what has been accomplished so far, and do not know how federal agencies such as NPS actually work.

 

 

Question: Why should I join ABP?

Answer: Because ABP is the place where your support can do the most good in gaining access to jumpable cliffs on public lands. ABP has the accomplishments, the relationships and infrastructure already in place to actually achieve access. ABP’s Phase I successfully challenged and changed the NPS policy prohibiting backcountry parachuting in its units. Now it’s gearing up for Phase II – direct negotiations and planning with individual NPS units and superintendents. It will be more work than fun – ABP doesn’t grandstand and we talk like bureaucrats not cool dudes – but we know how things work and we get things done.

 

 

Question: What else can I do to help ABP gain access to jumpable cliffs on public lands?

Answer: For its Phase II access efforts, ABP needs a core cadre of dedicated, motivated, focused team players who know how to work professionally with federal agencies. We need:

 

1)      Access coordinators for each targeted NPS unit;

2)      Legal researchers and lawyers to resolve Forest Service, BLM and NPS interpretations of the 1964 Wilderness Act ban on “mechanized transport” in wilderness areas;

3)      Website administrators;

4)      Research Action Members;

5)      ABP Green Card program managers; and

6)      Paying members

 

So join or rejoin as a Gold, Silver or Bronze member, make donations, buy extra t-shirts to sell or give away, become a Research Action Member, or one of ABP’s core cadres. Encourage your friends, neighbors and fellow parachutists to join too.