Bans all across the Eastern Sierra
Recently, we took a trip through the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains on an extended road trip. I wanted to capture some new video around this very rugged and often times difficult to reach terrain.
It seems that vast expanses of "wilderness" are now off limits to drones, and all of the areas surrounding Mono Lake. When I inquired as to why, the same generally nebulous answer came back. Potential risk to animals and habitat. Interestingly, there are roads through these areas, which when used by cars would seem to be the greater risk. In the case of Mono Lake, the fear was drones impacting birds and bird migrations. However, access to these waters via boat (motorized and non-motorized) is allowed, as is swimming. I guess a gas powered boat engine is not a concern, where as a small electric engine is.
None the less, we understand the concern with having unregulated access by UAVs to these environments. Appropriate guidelines and access rules for a given area that are designed to avoid unwanted impacts to wildlife and to avoid any public nuisance or safety issues are certainly appropriate. Just as with other forms of public access, assuring the safety and comfort of all is paramount.
An outright across the board ban however is unnecessary and counter productive. Its unnecessary because most responsible pilots are interested in the natural beauty of the environment and are there to capture that beauty, not damage or disturb it. If provided reasonable guidelines, they will follow them. Counter productive because when a simple "ban all drones completely" rule is applied, those that do choose to ignore the ban will do just that, ignore it and any other rules likely resulting in safety and nuisance issues, and a greater impact to the environment.
Please help me and others that have already signed this petition breath some common sense into this process. Before we end up with these tools abandoned by responsible pilots and only used by people who don't care about or follow safety and common sense.