RAF, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE RENEW MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT FOR DEATH VALLEY

The Recreational Aviation Foundation (RAF) and the National Park Service (NPS) have renewed their cooperative agreement addressing maintenance on the three airstrips within Death Valley National Park for another five years. Originally inked in 2008 and renewed in 2017, this Memorandum of Understanding between the NPS and the RAF authorizes RAF volunteers to perform mutually beneficial repairs to park airstrips at no cost to the United States. This Volunteer In the Parks, or “VIP” agreement marked the first such compact between the NPS and a pilot organization, a major step toward ensuring aircraft’s very low impact form of access to the park. 

The agreement authorizes the RAF to organize volunteers to help maintain the airstrips for Park and public use, with the RAF represented by RAF President Bill McGlynn, and Park Superintendent Mike Reynolds for the NPS. CA Liaison Katerina Barilov is identified as a key official on the agreement, and will help ensure effective communication between the RAF and NPS.

“The RAF and the NPS have been successfully partnering for nearly sixteen years to make access to these areas safe and available to the aviation community,” RAF Board Chairman John McKenna said. 

The RAF cooperates with pilot associations and groups from the surrounding areas to provide project labor and funds. The NPS provides a drag device for the gravel airstrip in the Saline Valley called Chicken Strip, and volunteers routinely provide hand labor to restore the runway surface after seasonal washouts, according to RAF California Liaison Rick Lach. Volunteers are mustered to provide invasive weed removal and other grounds maintenance at the Park’s other airstrips, Stovepipe Wells and Furnace Creek.

“The RAF is proud of our successful relationship with the Park Service in Death Valley and we look forward to continuing our cooperation. We value the trust the Park Service has placed in us by renewing our agreement,” McGlynn said.

Submitted December 18, 2024
By Carmine Mowbray