National Park Services Plans to Ban Drones in All National Parks Soon

The inevitable has arrived. After a number of individual national parks placed a ban on drones, The National Park Services is telling the Associated Press that it will soon ban the use of drones in all 401 parks across the United States.

Jonathan Jarvis, the Park Services director, cites the threatening and harassment of wildlife as one of the most vital concerns to banning the drones — but this rule isn’t only for the sake of the wildlife. Jarvis also mentioned the safety of rock climbers and other visitors as a major concern and reason for banning the buzzing beasts.

As expected, a number of drone users aren’t too fond of the rule change, but The National Park Services says it’s making the stark ruling before any situations get out of hand, effectively nipping any major issues in the bud.

According to the AP report, parks can continue to grant permits for drone flights for research, search and rescue, and firefighting purposes; commercial operators (i.e. filmmakers) can also apply for a permit to operate a drone.

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Image credits: Upper Yosemite Falls by Diliff and licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0