Forest Service tightening photo, video rules

The United States Forest Service will soon finalize regulations to require permits to take photos or videos on the land it owns.

The rules require permits costing up to $1,500 and special approval to take photos or videos on the 100 million acres of national forests, mainly in the West, the Oregonian reported. Violators could face $1,000 fines.

{mosads}The new regulations are raising eyebrows of First Amendment advocates who say the federal government is ignoring press freedom and could potentially grant permits to journalists only for positive coverage.

“It’s pretty clearly unconstitutional,” Gregg Leslie, legal defense director at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, told the newspaper. “They would have to show an important need to justify these limits, and they just can’t.”

The Forest Service told the Oregonian that the rules have been in place on a temporary basis for four years.

Liz Close, acting wilderness director at the Forest Service, said the rules fulfill the government’s legal responsibility to protect its forests from commercial exploitation. She did not cite any examples that have proven the need for the regulations.

The Bureau of Land Management, which also maintains large swaths of federal land, does not require permits for filming or photography.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) told the Oregonian that he is concerned about the new rules’ compliance with the First Amendment.