Local opinion: The Air Force is launching a shocking attack on Arizona’s public lands, rural communities and tribal nations

I attended elementary school at Edwards Air Force Base, the site of the world's first supersonic flights. I've got sonic booms still rattling in my bones.

Extreme noise from low-altitude military flight training ripped the air over my school's playground and shook classroom windows. Our daily dose of sonic booms caused anxiety, ear pain, headaches, and fear among my classmates. After decades of exposure to these deafening sounds, my father developed severe tinnitus and today persistent ringing and roaring in his ears makes it difficult for him to hear.

Now the Air Force is poised to impose this same harsh reality on thousands of Arizonans and New Mexicans, particularly in rural areas and Tribal communities, by massively expanding low-altitude supersonic training flights across our region. It's a shocking attack on America's public lands, rural communities and sovereign Tribal nations.

Air Force leaders are proposing to lower supersonic flights from 30,000 feet above the ground to just 5,000 feet, including over 1.2 million acres of Congressionally designated wilderness, and allow combat training missions just 100 feet above the San Carlos Apache Reservation, the Chiricahua Mountains and the rest of Cochise County. They also want to nearly double the use of wildfire-causing flares at even lower elevations in these areas.

These low-level flights won't just be an inconvenience; they will inflict serious harm on those living under these military training flight paths. Children attending school on the San Carlos Apache Reservation will experience the same distress I did from the loud, jarring noise of jets, as will thousands of residents who moved to rural communities for peace and quiet.

The Air Force seems determined to disproportionately shift the burden of these training flights onto Native American Tribes. The San Carlos Apache, White Mountain Apache and Tohono O'odham nations have already faced generations of historical injustice. Now they're facing an invasion of noise and danger from these flights.

This plan blatantly ignores the sovereignty and safety of these Tribal nations, subjecting them to increased risks of harm without their proper consent or involvement in the decision-making process.

The threats posed by the Air Force's plan are not hypothetical. The 2021 Telegraph Fire, which torched almost 200,000 acres, was likely caused by F-16s that were using flares to train over the area on the day the fire started.

The Air Force's proposed expansion will also have significant environmental consequences, particularly for threatened and endangered species and their critical habitats.

The planned flight paths will disturb nearly 2 million acres of designated critical habitat for multiple species like Mexican spotted owls, Sonoran pronghorn, jaguars and yellow-billed cuckoos. These areas are essential for the survival and recovery of species already facing severe risks of extinction.

Low-altitude flights, increased noise, wildfire risk and the physical impact of sonic booms will likely disrupt the behavior of these species, damage fragile ecosystems and habitats, and further endanger their survival.

What is particularly egregious is that there is no compelling reason for the Air Force to expand these low-altitude, high-risk combat training operations over our communities and wilderness areas.

According to the draft environmental impact statement, the Barry M. Goldwater Range, which has long been used for such training, can meet all of the Air Force's needs. With the addition of weekend scheduling, the range could provide a safe and adequate alternative to subjecting rural and Tribal communities and sensitive animals to these harmful operations. Yet the Air Force has dismissed this option, shifting the burden of risk onto areas ill-equipped to handle it.

The Air Force should immediately halt this plan, restrict its training operations to existing, well-suited areas like the Barry M. Goldwater Range, and extend the public comment period by 60 days. Anything less is a violation of the Air Force's obligations under environmental law and a shocking betrayal of the public trust.

Russ McSpadden is a Southwest conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity.

Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. A subscription helps you access more of the local stories that keep you connected to the community.