The National Park Service banned drone flying inside parks in 2014. Now, the federal government prohibits drones from coming near 10 specific monuments, such as the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore.
On Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that it will restrict drone flights to within 400 feet of the boundaries of monuments, historical parks, and other areas such as dams. The new restrictions go into effect on October 5th, and the full list may have already been posted.
Three years ago, the head of the National Park Service, Director John Jarvis, banned drone flying in parks for a variety of logical reasons: they disturb wildlife, annoy people seeking a little peace from the noise of the city, collide in various places (such as canyons and springs), and sometimes hinder rescue operations.
However, the FAA ban on these ten specific locations was implemented “at the request of U.S. national security and law enforcement agencies.” While there are no specifics in the FAA statement, it does mean that the drones are making the job of various law enforcement agencies more challenging as they try to protect resources and infrastructure from any kind of malicious drone activity.
So the general public may not be able to fly drones in national parks or within close proximity to these latter locations, but park workers themselves are starting to experiment with drones, and they have a good reason: The aircraft are used for patrolling and spotting wildfires.
