Oregon Public Broadcasting

The National Park Service will have the power to ban helicopter flights over Crater Lake without having to go through so much red tape.

Crater Lake, Courtesy NASA Earth Observatory.

Oregon Democrats Sen. Ron Wyden and Sen. Jeff Merkley inserted a provision giving that power to the park service into a Federal Aviation Administration bill that Congress passed this week.

Leading Edge Aviation of Bend applied to give helicopter tours in the park in 2009, but the park service opposed them because of noise.

The bill allows the park service to decide whether to allow helicopter tours without having to go through the formal process of developing an aviation management plan.

The bill is awaiting President Obama's signature.