A year ago, I published an article entitled My Experience Obtaining a Permit to Film in a National Park (you probably need one, too), which detailed my ordeal getting a permit to film a YouTube video at the Grand Canyon National Park. It was my first time going through the process, and I found it to be unnecessarily arduous and frustrating. The article got some attention, and I was even interviewed by the press regarding this topic.
The good news is that you probably no longer need a permit to film in a National Park, unless you are an actual production crew or are doing something that requires special permission. Just this last weekend, the President signed into law the Explore Act, which allows most people to freely film within the National Park Service. Essentially, the Explore Act allows photography and filming without a permit for parties of five or fewer people as long as it involves allowed activity in a National Park, regardless of whether those documenting are receiving compensation for their work.
Because my small YouTube channel was monetized, a year ago I needed a permit, even if the video I made didn’t earn hardly anything (and cost way more to make than it earned). Even the potential of one penny of Adsense revenue meant I was a for-profit film production crew, and as a for-profit film production crew a permit was required to film, even if I were merely recording on my cellphone or a GoPro. Today, that’s not the case at all. As long as you have five or less people and you’re doing normal things that tourists are allowed to do, you can film, and can skip the permit process. This is definitely a win for small creators.
I understand why not everyone is celebrating. The National Park Service has two equal missions that oppose each other: conservation and access. They have to preserve the land, and they have to open the land to visitors. To best conserve requires closing the gate to visitors, and to best allow access greatly risks conservation. They have to walk a fine line, which is not easy to do, and not everyone will be happy. The law—as it was on Friday prior to the Explore Act—leaned more towards conservation (even if awkwardly and ineffectively), and now, as of Saturday, it leans more towards access. There are some who prefer preservation over people. I get it, and am sympathetic towards that; however, I believe that this was the right thing to do, and I’m quite happy to see this new law on the books.
We have it here for some forest parts. It’s a very confusing process.
That’s too bad. Where are you located?
Northern Ireland. It’s not clear at times. Especially in places often used for weddings. On a positive they never actually insisted on payment.
Well, at least there’s a silver lining….
I guess Trump will revise many of the laws signed by self-propelled grandfather – old Joe
In America, there are legislative laws and Presidential orders (how to operate aspects of federal agencies). Legislative laws require passage from both chambers of Congress (the House of Representatives and the Senate), and are signed by the President. The Explore Act is an example of that. It cannot be “revised” by the President, it would require a passage of a new bill by Congress to do so. Presidential Orders can be “revised” but this is not an example of that.
This article was not intended to be political, only to point out that the law has changed, and, in my opinion, for the better for creators.
It’s always a racist, ignorant, lost cause, hateful so & so isn’t it Vladimir? SMH!
No, that’s not it, if I understood you correctly.
Personally, I find that the majority of your comments are an attempt to start shit. People don’t like that, as it degrades the experience for them. It’s also very troll-like, and nobody likes trolls. I have been tempted to block your comments multiple times, and have deleted some of your comments in the past. My suggestion is to exercise some discretion before posting provocative comments.
I suspect the rules were aimed at production crews and that the authorities assumed any visitor wether a YouTuber or not would just ignore or be unaware of the rules. Imagine if you show up at the delicate arch in Moab one night hoping to get a nice sunset shot and there is a production crew under the arch shooting a film and taking all night about it. Of course if you don’t want to get in trouble you need to get a permit, it’s good they revised.
Unfortunately, a group of National Park volunteers would find videos posted to YouTube and social media (where it appeared to be “for profit”) and forward that to the National Park Service to verify if they had obtained a permit. If they were found to not have a permit, they were issued a fine. Some small creators, such as a guy who filmed himself with a GoPro while hiking, were issued fines.