OGDEN — After an outcry from the public, the U.S. Forest Service has pulled a proposal to move a helibase for firefighters to a site near the Pineview Reservoir.

The Wasatch Helitack program, which would house up to three or four helicopters, now operates out of the Morgan County Airport in Mountain Green, but the lease to use that space ends in March 2022. That set up a search for a new location, leading to the 9-acre site next to Anderson Cove Campground on U.S. Forest Service land on the southeast side of Pineview Reservoir.

Strong opposition emerged, though, and Sean Harwood, who heads the Forest Service’s Ogden Ranger District, said in a message late last week that the proposal at the Pineview Reservoir site had been scrapped. “Based on my review of public comments, I have made the decision to withdraw the proposal from further consideration,” Harwood said in a message sent to Utah Rep. Steve Waldrip and others involved.

Image supplied, U.S. Forest Service

Waldrip, a Republican from the Eden area, said much of the concern stemmed from the location of such an operation next to Pineview Reservoir, a big recreational draw, and the fuel that would be needed for the helicopters. Critics, offering feedback during two public comment periods held by the Forest Service, worried the helibase would be disruptive and feared environmental damage if there were some sort of accident.

“A lot of opposition. A lot of questions why we have to put it there when there are two airports in either direction that would be better suited for it,” said Waldrip, alluding to the Mountain View airport and the Ogden-Hinckley Airport in Ogden.

Jan Fullmer, who lives in the Ogden Valley and is active in the zone through Ogden Valley GEM, singled out the possible dangers posed by the storage of fuel at the site and the potential noise from helicopters. Ogden Valley GEM closely monitors development issues in the area. “I don’t understand why they wanted to move it here,” she said.

The crew and helicopters at the helibase help fight wildland fires across Northern Utah and elsewhere in the country, typically between May and October. The operation at the new site would have included a crew of 33 firefighters, four pilots and up to 14 contract employees. Takeoffs and landings would average one per day, though that would vary depending on fire activity.

“With more homes and communities being constructed in the wildland urban interface, and longer, more extreme fire seasons in recent years, the need is expected to increase for this type of aerial support,” reads a report prepared by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on the helibase project.

Harwood didn’t provide additional details in his message and a rep from the U.S. Forest Service, part of the USDA, couldn’t immediately be reached Monday for comment. Waldrip, though, said public opposition led to the decision. Weber County Commissioner Gage Froerer, U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney and U.S. Rep. Blake Moore, the 1st District representative, had also reached out to Forest Service reps to convey the public’s concerns.

Ogden-Hinckley Airport was the preferred site for relocating the helibase, but talks with Ogden officials to reach accord floundered.

A proposed site was identified “directly south of the original airport tower and had all the amenities required to run a successful, high functioning helibase,” reads the USDA report. “Due to issues with the agency buying a building on leased property, the (Forest Service) was not able to reach an agreement with Ogden City, the owner of the property, and this alternative was abandoned.”

Waldrip, though, has been in touch with Ogden leaders and thinks there’s still room to negotiate. Ogden officials “are prepared to engage in discussions,” Waldrip said.

Moore’s office helped with communication between the sides, a rep from his office said, and the lawmaker hopes to keep the helibase nearby. “We want to keep helicopters in Northern Utah to be prepared for future forest fires, and we will continue to be helpful however we can to keep them close by,” a representative from his office said.

Similarly, Waldrip understands that the Forest Service wants to keep the helibase somewhere along the Wasatch Front.