XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: dickhum@remail.com   
      
   It's okay for the military to test and fly drones in the parks,   
   but fuck you civilians.   
      
   A group of school kids mesmerized by the odd-shaped rock   
   outcroppings juxtaposed against a delicate desert landscape were   
   enjoying their visit to Joshua Tree National Park when suddenly,   
   an unmanned aerial vehicle buzzed the tops of their heads.   
      
   “It made a lot of people uncomfortable,” explained Laura Shuman,   
   park spokesperson.   
      
   The recent incident is one of a rapidly growing number involving   
   UAVs — also known as camera-carrying drones — that have spooked   
   people and wildlife inside national parks in the past eight   
   months and prompted a temporary ban from U.S. National Park   
   Service Director Jonathan Jarvis.   
      
   At Mount Rushmore in South Dakota last September, a drone flew   
   precipitously close to 1,500 visitors seated in the park’s   
   amphitheater. The pilotless aircraft was confiscated by park   
   rangers, but not before its operator flew the whirring drone   
   within a few feet of the heads of the four presidents carved   
   into the mountain.   
      
   “They weigh about 2 to 4 kilograms,” said NPS Washington D.C.   
   spokesman Jeffrey Olson. “Something like that falling, with that   
   momentum going, if it hits anybody someone will get injured — or   
   worse.”   
      
   In Zion National Park in Utah, a drone flew between a herd of   
   bighorn sheep separating the lambs from their mothers, according   
   to the NPS.   
      
   At the Grand Canyon, visitors watching the sunset during an   
   April evening visit were jarred by the noise of an unmanned   
   aircraft flying back and forth that eventually crashed into the   
   canyon wall, the NPS reported.   
      
   Shuman said the park has had “several complaints” in the past   
   few months including drones in campgrounds, hiking trails and   
   picnic areas inside Joshua Tree. Complaints range from noise, to   
   safety to invasion of privacy.   
      
   As a result of these incidents, the Park Service enacted a ban   
   on UAVs launched from and in the air above some 84 million acres   
   of land supervised by the NPS.   
      
   The ban on remotely piloted aircraft is in effect in all   
   national parks, national monuments and national recreation   
   areas, including popular locations visited by millions of   
   Californians each year, such as Joshua Tree, Yosemite,   
   Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Death Valley, Mojave National   
   Preserve, Channel Islands and the Santa Monica Mountains   
   National Recreation Area, explained Olson.   
      
   Within the next 18 months, the National Park Service will   
   develop a formal rule which may include exemptions for research,   
   Hollywood movie making and search-and-rescue operations, all of   
   which are using drones more frequently.   
      
   The U.S. Forest Service, which manages more than a million acres   
   in Southern California, has no prohibition on drones and is not   
   working on a similar rule, said Jennifer Jones, USFS public   
   affairs specialist from the Washington D.C.   
      
   In the next 18 months, the NPS could set up a permit system for   
   amateur photographers and videographers as a way to allow some   
   drone flights but limit the frequency, times and locations of   
   unmanned aircraft inside national parks and NRAs, Olson said.   
   But that probably would mean all permits would have to be   
   approved by the Washington office, he said.   
      
   “They interfere with the visitor experience,” Olson said. “There   
   aren’t many people who appreciate the buzzing of unmanned   
   aircraft when they are out on a hike or listening to a ranger’s   
   program.”   
      
   Before the director’s policy memo was handed down June 19, some   
   individual parks closed their skies to drones unilaterally.   
   Yosemite National Park had already said its breathtaking sequoia   
   groves and columnar canyons were off limits to camera-carrying   
   drones, some of which were seen skimming Half Dome populated   
   with rock climbers.   
      
   USA Today reported hikers feeling unsafe in Zion when a UAV flew   
   over their heads two months ago, zigzagging through slot canyons   
   in an area called Angels Landing Trail.   
      
   “Imagine you’re a big wall climber in Yosemite working on a four-   
   day climb up El Capitan, and you’re hanging off a bulb, ready to   
   make a (difficult) move, and an unmanned aircraft flies up   
   beside you and is hovering a few feet from your head with its   
   GoPro camera running,” Jonathan Jarvis told The Associated Press.   
      
   Olson said the unfettered use of drones could affect visitors   
   who come to a national park for a taste of serenity. Some   
   naturalists applauded the ban in Yosemite, saying it would’ve   
   been what famous naturalist John Muir would’ve wanted.   
      
   “We are supportive of the (park) superintendents making the   
   call,” said Kati Schmidt of the National Park Conservation   
   Association.   
      
   But aerial photographers who appreciate nature and may share   
   Muir’s spiritual connection to God’s creation, say their footage   
   adds to the mystique of our natural parks by providing a new   
   perspective on ancient sites and precious wildlife. They also   
   give millions who may never get to visit in person a close-up   
   view.   
      
   Jim Bowers, 57, of Colfax, Calif., says he’s an artist who is   
   being denied his freedom of expression. His YouTube videos of   
   Yosemite, Grand Teton, the Four Corners and Devil’s Tower — all   
   taken with the aide of a drone — have collected 320,000 views.   
      
   “I equate my drone to what Ansel Adams did with a box camera. I   
   am doing the same thing but with a whole new perspective,” he   
   said during an interview Tuesday.   
      
   Some may laugh at his comparison to Ansel Adams, whose black-and-   
   white photos of Half Dome have become world famous, but it may   
   not be such a stretch. UAV-powered videos are becoming very   
   popular with photographers and cinematographers. National   
   Geographic Magazine recently held a contest for the best aerial   
   photos called the Drone Aerial Photography Contest. A drone   
   photography festival is being planned for next year.   
      
   Bowers uses a four-copter drone to capture video and still   
   images from a different perspective than he can get earth-bound.   
      
   “When you fly up the face of Half Dome, I can get close to it.   
   You can see the texture, the crags in the rocks that you can   
   never see from the ground. It gives you a sense of enormity,”   
   Bowers said.   
      
   At the Santa Monica Mountains, spokesperson Kate Kuykendall said   
   there have been few complaints and most of those are about the   
   noise from enthusiasts who fly model airplanes in designated   
   areas of the NRA. Superintendent Dave Szymanski is working on   
   how to incorporate exceptions in the ban, such as for model   
   airplane groups and Hollywood filmmakers who use Paramount Ranch   
   in Agoura Hills as a backdrop.   
      
   “Locally, the biggest impact is with filming,” she said.   
      
   At Death Valley, rangers have received a few complaints about   
   unmanned drones but “they are few and far between,” said Cheryl   
   Chipman, spokesperson. Chipman said officials have seen videos   
   on YouTube shot with drones featuring scenes from the park and   
   drones landing on park land.   
      
      
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