The State - News from Aug. 30, 1987

The Sierra Club has challenged the designation of the airspace over the area where California, Oregon and Nevada meet as a site for military training flights. The Air Force and Air National Guard began using the 1,000-square-mile area for training flights in April. In a suit filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, the Sierra Club contends such flights pose a hazard to wildlife and people who live there, including those in the Surprise Valley area of Modoc County. The creation of Hart Mountain Military Operations Area in February specified that up to 3,500 sorties, of up to 20 planes each, may be flown in the area each year, according to the suit. Flights of four to five hours a day could not occur more than three times a week.