Joe, National Forest and National Wildlife Refuge rangers have law enforcement powers. You can't cross them. I am a member of a couple of professional associations that are working to establish a single permit that would be a fixed amount and would cover all public lands. This has been going on for several years. The current permit fee is not law, but regulation. Congress tasked the land managers with developing a fee structure that would recover the costs associated with photography, video and film production. The managers then via regulation developed a fee structure based on a large major motion picture production with actors, grip trucks, catering trucks, everything you could imagine. There's not any real consideration for one or two people shooting video or stills unsupported that don't require any special access. When we first started trying to get a law passed, I called my congressman and explained to a staffer what we wanted to accomplish. The staffer asked why did we want to impose a permit fee on ourselves at all? Why not just ask for it to be free? The point of the permit is that then there can't be a regulation that later denies access or tries to impose a new fee. That was 2005? I think? The current permit fee legislation is attached to the SHARE Act which has passed the house and is awaiting action in the senate. We've gotten this far several times. It always winds up in a fight over other issues in the senate.
Well, that is interesting.
First, my comment was directed towards Southern Alaskans looking through magazines to find usage of their lands. In that case, since the images are already captured, I can't see them being able to legally go after someone. Of course, they can issue suit, but if it went to court, they would probably loose. However, who really wants to go to court if all they are asking for is a $100.
Insofar as the fee, I do know that the National Park Service is a pain to deal with. I have shot a couple of projects on the National Park properties, but they were of buildings and we knew this going in. However, I have done many personal projects in National Parks and never had a problem after telling the Ranger that it was just a personal project.
With that being said, I know that the East Coast, in general, is much more business friendly than the West. Many architectural photographer I know that work on the West Coast have to apply for permits every time they shoot a building even if they are only going to use a tripod. I have yet to have any trouble, even with some grip on the sidewalk.
