Reckless drone operators annoy animals, people across US national parks
About six weeks ago in June, two days after the National Park Service (NPS) banned drones in all 401 national parks, a 68-year-old California man reported that his drone was stuck in a tree at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
“He called for help, and one of our rangers responded,” Jackie Skaggs, a Grand Teton spokeswoman, told Ars. “He was flying it in the Gros Ventre campground and got it stuck in a cottonwood tree. There was no damage as far as I know to the cottonwood tree. He wanted it out, the rangers came to help, and he was in violation of a public use closure.”
The man’s drone was never rescued. When rangers returned to help the man retrieve it, it was gone. The rangers presumed it had been stolen.
“Someone was able to get up and get it out, and now we have an open case of stolen property, but we haven’t been able to solve that yet,” Skaggs said, adding that there is now an “open investigation” as a result of the theft. “We don’t have any leads at this point, and we may never.”
On June 22, 2014, the man was ordered to pay a $100 fine and a $25 fee, which he did.
The situation marks one of the milder incidents, as drone-related reports within national parks continue after the June 20 NPS-wide ban. As recently as early August 2014, a drone went down in the Grand Prismatic Spring at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.
“We embrace many activities in national parks because they enhance visitor experiences with the iconic natural, historic, and cultural landscapes in our care,” Jonathan Jarvis, the NPS director, said in the statement on June 20. “However, we have serious concerns about the negative impact that flying unmanned aircraft is having in parks, so we are prohibiting their use until we can determine the most appropriate policy that will protect park resources and provide all visitors with a rich experience.”
Jeffrey Olson, an NPS spokesman, told Ars he did not have any numbers on post-ban drone-related incidents, but Olson said he would inquire with the agency’s chief of law enforcement to find out if such data exists. Last week, Ars filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the NPS to learn more about such incidents. But Charis Wilson, an NPS FOIA officer, told Ars that it might be a while before the request is fulfilled.
“We expect to complete our response to you by September 19, 2014,” she said by e-mail. “Your request, however, has been put into our complex processing queue, so we do not expect to complete the processing and release of responsive materials until November 3, 2014.”
Don’t mess with bighorn sheep
As far back as September 2013, the NPS reported an incident in which a drone flew over visitors seated in the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Amphitheater in South Dakota—the drone was immediately confiscated. In April 2014, a drone was spotted at the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, and another buzzed a herd of bighorn sheep at Zion National Park in Utah, apparently separating adults from young animals.
In May 2014, Zion officials issued this statement:
Rangers have seen a large increase in the use of drones within the park. Some visitors have complained about drones interrupting the usual peace of Zion’s soundscape and wilderness, while others have reported feeling unsafe as drones buzz through slot canyons and along exposed trails such as Angels Landing and Canyon Overlook. The recent observation of the bighorn sheep encounter with a drone also demonstrates the negative impact they can have on the wildlife within Zion National Park, particularly in the spring when many animals are caring for their young. In addition to impacting ground-based wildlife, drones may prevent birds from successfully nesting or may cause nests to be abandoned if the birds feel harassed.
