The End of an Era

[AlanLichty]

Up until this past summer flying a drone in an Oregon State Park was generally allowed with the exception of crowded venues and wildlife habitats but that access has come to an end. Oregon Parks held a series of public meetings and solicited comments regarding the use of drones in the parks and the birding communities used their extensive social connections to thoroughly smother the process both with write-in campaigns and meeting attendance. The end result is a large number of popular parks that no longer allow drone operations. Two of the parks in the Columbia River Gorge that were my favorites for fall photography are among them including Rooster Rock State Park shown in this 3 shot panorama of Mirror Lake captured last fall.

The Rooster Rock drone ban makes a lot of sense for summer months as there is a clothing optional beach at the far east end of the park that should certainly be off limits to aerial photography but during the off season months the park is generally quite empty. There is a provision for getting a permit from the local park superintendent that I might be able to justify but it won't be as easy as driving up the Gorge and deciding to stop to take in the views from the air.

 

[Michael13]

Wow, that was one short era.

You made the most of it, Alan. You must have terabytes of Gorge drone panoramas.

 

[AlanLichty]

Wow, that was one short era.

You made the most of it, Alan. You must have terabytes of Gorge drone panoramas.

Thanks Michael - I do have a considerable stash of captures both from this park as well as from the Benson Recreation Area further up in the Gorge. Oregon still does have some parks that allow drone use but not the ones I usually like to play in. That's still much nicer than Washington where no drones are allowed in any state parks at all.

 

[JimFox]

This is one super cool image Alan!

What's interesting, is 15 to 20 years ago, I could get behind banning drones just about everywhere as it seemed like the vast majority of people using them seemed like their goal was to irritate people by flying in peoples faces or just feet above people. But I have seen that change, and that's no longer an issue that I see.

But perhaps that early day bad taste in peoples mouths still is out there? So perhaps the perception from back then overrides the reality of today.

 

[Jeffrey]

People, in general, are fearful of what they don't understand. That's why there's religion. Drone hating has been popularized by the internet and the media, so it still is the current trend. State parks tend to be smaller than national parks so perhaps you could launch outside the boundaries and still fly over.

 

[Kyle Jones]

Wonderful image. I'm torn regarding drones in parks overall. I have a couple and enjoy using them. I also hate having the peace of hanging out in a park degraded by having a drone buzzing around.

To second Jeffrey's comment, Montana doesn't allow drones in state parks but I have found some places where I can fly just outside the parks to get the views I want

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Nice image Alan. I echo what Kyle said. Already used to the fact that we can't fly in WA state parks. That said there are a lot of places where one can. Things can and will likely change towards more restrictive policies going forward.

 

[AlanLichty]

This is one super cool image Alan!

What's interesting, is 15 to 20 years ago, I could get behind banning drones just about everywhere as it seemed like the vast majority of people using them seemed like their goal was to irritate people by flying in peoples faces or just feet above people. But I have seen that change, and that's no longer an issue that I see.

But perhaps that early day bad taste in peoples mouths still is out there? So perhaps the perception from back then overrides the reality of today.

Thanks Jim - there are a lot of drone pilots who simply like to go to interesting places and simply fly their drones around rather than taking still images or video. Your thoughts on the "early days" seem to still be quite accurate for the average adolescent who just bought a cheapie drone and go fly them in busy parks and the likes. The almost complete lack of concern for actual rules in the skies couldn't be farther from their minds.

 

[BlackRockArt]

Up until this past summer flying a drone in an Oregon State Park was generally allowed with the exception of crowded venues and wildlife habitats but that access has come to an end. Oregon Parks held a series of public meetings and solicited comments regarding the use of drones in the parks and the birding communities used their extensive social connections to thoroughly smother the process both with write-in campaigns and meeting attendance. The end result is a large number of popular parks that no longer allow drone operations. Two of the parks in the Columbia River Gorge that were my favorites for fall photography are among them including Rooster Rock State Park shown in this 3 shot panorama of Mirror Lake captured last fall.

View attachment 92201

The Rooster Rock drone ban makes a lot of sense for summer months as there is a clothing optional beach at the far east end of the park that should certainly be off limits to aerial photography but during the off season months the park is generally quite empty. There is a provision for getting a permit from the local park superintendent that I might be able to justify but it won't be as easy as driving up the Gorge and deciding to stop to take in the views from the air.

Uh Oh, clothing optional, oh well, all godd things come to end.

Sad I have yet to fly my drone over there.

Oliver

 

[AlanLichty]

People, in general, are fearful of what they don't understand. That's why there's religion. Drone hating has been popularized by the internet and the media, so it still is the current trend. State parks tend to be smaller than national parks so perhaps you could launch outside the boundaries and still fly over.

Wonderful image. I'm torn regarding drones in parks overall. I have a couple and enjoy using them. I also hate having the peace of hanging out in a park degraded by having a drone buzzing around.

To second Jeffrey's comment, Montana doesn't allow drones in state parks but I have found some places where I can fly just outside the parks to get the views I want

Nice image Alan. I echo what Kyle said. Already used to the fact that we can't fly in WA state parks. That said there are a lot of places where one can. Things can and will likely change towards more restrictive policies going forward.

Many thanks for the comments gentlemen.

Most of the people I know who have and are flying drones are doing so responsibly and at least in my case I do everything I can to stay away from just about anyone while I have my drone in the air. I do know the rules in the air wherever I fly and if I don't I know how to look them up just to make certain my flights are entirely legal. It is correct that you can still fly over a park while controlling the drone from outside the park boundaries as long as your drone is still within sight.

For Oregon's parks along the coast its always worth noting that the park boundaries are always on land. Once you are out over the Pacific you will fall under a set of rules for marine sanctuaries outlined in the Oregon Administrative Records. The only rule pertaining to drones in the marine sanctuaries is that they cannot be used for fishing. I chuckled over that rule until I discovered that fishermen actually are using drones to transport their baited lines out well beyond casting distances and then releasing them in places without such rules. In short if you are outside of a park boundary you can fly out over the water and then shoot back into the park which is how I shoot at Cape Perpetua anyway since this way I not over people and can use my telephoto lenses to access my photo subjects. Also true for the Heceta Head Lighthouse.

There is a second set of rules for flights out over the water when you are around the many sea stacks - every one of them (over 1800) along the coast are a part of the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge. You cannot fly a drone over any of them and even manned aircraft have to maintain a flight floor of 2000'. You can fly in between them over the open water so still not a real obstacle for your photo pleasures.

 

[AlanLichty]

Uh Oh, clothing optional, oh well, all godd things come to end.

Sad I have yet to fly my drone over there.

Oliver

Oliver - that's one small sandy beach in the Gorge that isn't very photogenic in the first place. Still plenty of places to launch from