HOT SPRINGS -- Enforcement of a new National Park Service policy prohibiting the use of drones in national parks presents a complex management issue for Hot Springs National Park.
A policy memorandum issued last week by the National Park Service prohibits the launching, landing or operation of unmanned aircraft, or drones, on land or water administered by the Park Service.
Jonathan Jarvis, the National Park Service director, said in a news release that many activities in national parks are embraced because they enhance visitor experiences, but there are "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."
"Technology has a way of getting in front of you, and you have to deal with the situation," Hot Springs National Park Superintendent Josie Fernandez said Monday.
"This technology is being put in the hands of civilians everywhere and has caused a concern nationwide in national parks where the expectation is to maybe see bison roaming, or looking at the Statue of Liberty without things flying overhead," she said.
She said the drones are marring visitors' experiences and are also a public safety concern.
"It's different from a military [drone] operator who has had thousands and thousands of hours of training and actual operation or experience, compared to the weekend person who only takes the drone out to fly for a couple of hours. Their ability to operate it is going to create a safety hazard wherever you are, and particularly in national parks, which are natural gathering places for potentially large numbers of people," Fernandez said.
The policy memorandum directs superintendents across the country to take a number of steps to keep unmanned aircraft out of national parks. The memorandum also directs superintendents to use their existing authority within the Code of Federal Regulations to prohibit the use of unmanned aircraft, and to include that prohibition in the park's compendium, which is a set of park-specific regulations.
"That is where we are right now. The compendium is where we're going to be tackling that machine. There's going to be a lot of researching, talking and thinking we'll have to do here about how to best manage this particular prohibition. You could literally stand across the street and fly the drone into our airspace," Fernandez said.
Enforcement of the regulations will be more difficult in Hot Springs National Park, where some of the boundaries are not as identifiable to the general public as they might be in other parks.
"That is the great unknown for me at this point, and what, if anything, could we do from here," Fernandez said.
"I have reached out to City Manager David Watkins and County Judge Rick Davis to see whether they have anything on the books that would be helpful as we come up with some sort of something to comply with this prohibition and then incorporate that into our compendium," she said.
"As always happens, technology is being developed faster than anyone can react to it, and it's about being reasonable in the application, which takes everything into consideration," she said.
The Park Service news release said that "all permits previously issued for unmanned aircraft will be suspended until reviewed and approved by the associate director of the National Park Service's Visitor and Resource Protection directorate.
"The associate director must approve any new special use permits authorizing the use of unmanned aircraft. Superintendents who have previously authorized the use of model aircraft for hobbyist or recreational use may allow such use to continue," the release said.
Unmanned aircraft may be used by the National Park Service for administrative purposes such as search and rescue, fire operations and scientific study, but those uses must also be approved by the associate director for Visitor and Resource Protection, the memorandum states.
Metro on 06/27/2014