Not news, but a sign of the mainstreaming of drones. The New Yorker covers the ban on drones in US national parks:
This past week, a couple of volunteers at Zion National Park, in Utah, came upon a drone, equipped with its very own onboard camera, buzzing over a herd of bighorn. The sheep bounded away and, in the ensuing mayhem, several lambs were separated from their mothers. The volunteer spotted the offending filmmakers nearby and shooed them away. The park issued a statement reminding visitors that the use of unmanned aerial vehicles is strictly prohibited and punishable by a jail sentence of up to five months and/or a five-thousand-dollar fine.
Zion is not alone in its protest of drones. Just days before Zion’s declaration, Yosemite National Park, in California, had reminded visitors that drones of any type were unwelcome. Photo hobbyists have flocked to Yosemite and turned the park’s most popular vistas into buzzy air shows, much to the irritation of the park’s keepers.
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Read the rest here.
Comments
IMHO, in the past few years, the National Park Service and National Forest Service have gotten VERY territorial. They have this mindset that unless you are a hardcore hiker, you don't belong in the park. Here's an example from personal experience at the Grand Canyon. Every evening, they have a film at one of the visitor centers about the canyon. In the film, they make a big stink about the commercial helicopters operating in the area complaining constantly about the noise even though the flight paths are severely restricted. Then the film and the rangers spout off about safety in the canyon and how you should try to help folks having trouble. Okay, fine. So, I wanted to get up before sunrise to drive out to Yaki Point to take pictures. I drove over there an discovered that vehicles weren't allowed out to the parking lot at the point. I had to park a mile away and walk the rest of the way in. So I start walking in the dark. Then I start hearing this godawful noise. Helicopter? Nope. It was one of the park's shuttle buses. I heard this diesel engine well over a mile away. It got closer and closer and then turned up the road I was on. I thought "Cool, I'll wave them down and ask them to drive me up to the point." Nope. Bastard blew right past me louder than any helicopter I ever heard the whole time I was there. What was that about helping people out? Oh, yeah, guess that doesn't apply to them.
Then there was the time I went to Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. One could be forgiven for thinking it was Harley biker week but no, that sound is there pretty much all the time.
Now, the National Forest Service has decided that the scourge of humanity is too much for Mother Gaea so they decided to close down some 80% of roads and trails.
Hah! Brilliant Mark... and Alaska (my home) isn't even on the map. Oh wait, it is probably included as part of Russia. :-)
That New Yorker author certainly expressed a limited view of US national parks and Wilderness areas (not just in parks).
@Rob, this should explain all...
what a scene :)
Pretty good article. I use the national and provincial parks quite a bit, and I see this constant battle between different types of users. I live in a rural town, and I go to see wilderness. City folk are happy as long as there are a few trees and some dirt, maybe a lake. But otherwise, they want to bring the city with them. They're talking about installing WiFi now. I would also hate to see everybody have drones flying around.
I couldn't help but notice this line though:
Uh, what? Yellowstone was created in 1872, then Australia created one in 1879, and then Canada in 1885.