Lawmakers say they’re going to fight the Forest Service over a new plan to impose a special permit use fee of $1,500 for journalists, filmmakers and even tourists who want to take pictures on federal wilderness lands for revenue-raising purposes.
Under the agency’s new plan, journalists would have to tell the Forest Service what their story is about and get an official okay to snap photos on wilderness properties — unless the journalist is covering “breaking news,” USA Today reported.
Those caught breaking the rule would have to pay a fine of at least $1,000, the media outlet reported.
But lawmakers and members of the media say that’s ridiculous.
Mickey Osterreicher, the general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, said they will likely “challenge [the Forest Service] in court,” International Business Times reported. And Rep. Peter DeFazio said the rule is way too vague to enforce.
“What does the Forest Service plan to do next,” he said, USA Today reported, “monitor Instagram accounts and fine users that post pictures of our wilderness areas? In the coming days, I will organize and send the Forest Service a bipartisan letter telling them the current rule is unacceptable and that it needs to be fixed.”
Sen. Ron Wyden echoed that sentiment.
“The Forest Service needs to rethink any policy that subjects noncommercial photographs and recordings to a burdensome permitting process for something as simple as taking a picture with a cell phone,” he said, USA Today reported. “Especially where reporters and bloggers are concerned, this policy raises troubling questions about inappropriate government limits on activity clearly protected by the First Amendment.”
Liz Close, the acting director of the wilderness division of the Forest Service, said the rules have been in place for years, but haven’t been enforced.
“The Wilderness Act [of 1964] pretty clearly prohibits commercial enterprise in wilderness areas,” she said, the Statesman-Journal reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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