Arriving in Columbia, Missouri last summer for the first time, competitors at the US National Championships were astounded to find more than 80 PZs (Prohibited Zones) on their competition maps. By week’s end that number had increased to well over 100. With the 1996 US Nationals now just two months away, efforts are underway to re-color the competition maps, from red to green, or at least a lighter shade of yellow. What happened in Columbia could well be a lesson in landowner relations gone awry, despite all good intentions.
There is no doubt that after successfully bidding to bring the US National Championships to Columbia, the Missouri Balloon Corporation had both the balloonists’ and the landowner’s best interest in mind as they went about the task of establishing legitimate prohibited zones. A mailing asked the residents of Boone County to contact the MBC office if they did not want balloons to land on and/or possibly damage their property. The intent was to identify crops, cattle ranges, and other sensitive properties that the balloonists would want to avoid. Unfortunately, the language of the notice all but implied any balloon landing would result in crop or property damage, so the results were an overwhelmingly negative response.
"Some landowners were only using 20 percent of their land but they wanted the entire parcel marked red," says Dan Sherrill, Competition Director for the 1996 Nationals. "In some cases these were wooded lots completely covered with trees, or open fields with no fences.
"I don’t think the people of Columbia are against the balloons at all, I just don’t think they completely understood what was involved in a ballooning event and the true purpose of a PZ."
Pat Cannon eventually won the title of National Champion but admitted arriving in town to find 80 PZs on the maps was a daunting experience. "Mentally it made me uncomfortable to go into an area where already such a majority of the landowners had made up their minds against balloons and balloonists, many of them without ever having seen a balloon.
"Of course, it also made the event more challenging," he said, "in the sense that your map reading and flight planning skills were really sharpened, though I must say avoiding that number of red areas is not a challenge I would want to be faced with at every US Nationals."
Cannon too agreed that the initial communication to residents of the area, while with all good intentions, was probably more negative than necessary. "I didn’t see the item that was mailed to the landowners, but I understand it seemingly implied that every balloon landing would almost surely result in property or crop damage so the way to avoid this was to make one’s property as a red zone.
"I think a better approach would have been to communicate to the landowners that the balloonists are understanding of property values, that we are sensitive to livestock and crop concerns and that we try to avoid these at every opportunity. Then if a landowner has a concern they can be invited to call to discus their concerns," he said.
Sherrill agrees. "I think an open invitation to property owners to mark their land red without communication or explanation was probably a mistake, and a lesson that we should learn for the future."
Last month Sherrill, his staff, and members of the MBC met in St. Louis to review a number of logistics for the upcoming event. PZs were on the agenda, as they had been at an earlier meeting of the BFA Competition Division Board of Director’s where Vicki Russell, Co- Chairman of the MBC and Chairman of their Landowner Relations Committee assured the board improvement was being made over last year. It was the same message she delivered to Dan Sherrill and his staff.
"At our meeting in St. Louis, Vicki Russell reassured us that improvements are being made and will continue to be made right up to and possibly during the event this August. Naturally they are working to open up more unrestricted or green zones, or in the worst case, they hope to make some of the previous red zones, yellow, so at least the competitors can fly low over these area when making an approach to landing or to a target," explained Sherrill.
Vicki Russell was out of town and not available for comment as this story was prepared but the following written statement was provided Balloon Life by the MBC office...
Since early this year, a small group of MBC volunteers have been talking with Boone County property owners in an effort to find better ways to assist landowners during the Nationals, to improve understanding, to verify the location of livestock and to reduce red zones both in sizes and quantity.
The conversations have been quite helpful: Livestock owners, for example, have come up with excellent suggestions for ways the Landowner Relations Committee can assist during the Nationals. Most property owners are very supportive of the event and want to find cooperative solutions that both protect their livestock and help the Nationals.
As a result of these conversations, about 25 percent of the acreage that was red-zoned in 1995 has been changed to unrestricted areas. Most of these formerly prohibited zones were 100 acres or larger.
In some cases, property owners want to wait until closer to the Nationals to make decisions about red zones. They aren’t sure yet which pastures will have livestock on them during the event. Volunteers are quite confident that additional prohibited zones will be converted to either unrestricted or yellow zones by August.
Meanwhile, the Missouri Lottery, the Kansas City Royals, Six Flags and other sponsors have donated many prizes and souvenirs for volunteers to give away to landowners during the Nationals.
For Dan Sherrill and staff this will be good news indeed as he told Balloon Life that he would be quite happy with a reduction of 20 percent of red zone area, if not an actual reduction in the number of red zones.
As for the future, Cannon, who will be in Columbia to defend his title, says he welcomes the news that the number and size of the PZs in Columbia is shrinking. "From what I’ve been told it seems that the MBC is doing everything I would recommend to try and improve the situation. Namely, better communication with property owners and positive communication. The increase in prizes available to landowners helps to show them their participation and cooperation is appreciated. Plus, I think you will naturally see some reduction as one neighbor talks to another and says, ‘Well, you know, I had a balloon land on my property and it wasn’t so bad. We actually had a lot of fun with those people."
Cannon is also on the site selection committee for the 1998, 99, and year 2000 Nationals. "One thing I am going to insist on is that bidding communities and organizations assure us they have the means to communicate properly with their landowners via radio, TV and direct mail if necessary to adequately accentuate the positives of a ballooning event and our sensitivity to and willingness to work with landowners before we award a contract for another US National Championship."