Watch this BEFORE you film in National Parks, New Laws in 2021

hey guys i'm seth and i'm christy and we're the colorado couple today's video we're going to go over the national park service's recent changes allowing commercial photography in national parks without a permit so instead of just talking about it since we only live 45 minutes away from the fourth busiest national park in the u.s not only are we going to go over the guidelines but if you're a youtuber videographer or if you're just curious come with us because we're going to film it in the park let's go [Music] all right guys so in the past the national park service had rules that pretty much prohibited anyone that was a small scale commercial person youtuber vlogger digital content creator from filming in the park without paying a bunch of fees to try and get a permit or breaking the law they made no i guess differentiation between a large-scale hollywood film production or just a husband and wife crew with the cell phone who want to go into the park and film the mountains but all that just changed so on january 22nd 2021 um this is straight from the national park services website so i'm going to read it so i don't mess it up um the u.s district court issued a decision in price versus bar determining that the permit and fee requirements applying to commercial filming are unconstitutional so in response to this decision the national park service issued guidance on february 22nd 2021 to manage filming activities so um i won't bore you with all the details because that's gonna put a link to the actual law in the description below because it's a lot of legal speak um but yeah we're gonna go uh check out how it works at the park how's it going perfect how can i help you today yes could we do two things one i need to re-up for an annual pass and then also my wife and i have a youtube channel and we heard something about the recent change with the park services guidelines we were wondering if you could clarify those for us as far as the mass no no no as far as filming in the park for commercial purposes to be honest fair enough yeah so yeah any did they give you guys anything as far as the so there was there was a court decision on the 22nd of january and then the nps issued a press release on the 22nd of february basically saying that for for low-scale production purposes you can shoot in the parks commercially without a permit or without paying or applying for one no worries it's like super recent we weren't sure [Music] it does sound familiar but you don't have anybody going over that with me no no worries i don't want to say one way or the other you know perfect with something i don't know no it's understandable got it did we actually get them all right guys so there you have it first off dd was amazing as you could see but this is so new that no one even knows for sure what's going on so top tip make sure you go on the nps's website print off the ruling so you can show them god forbid you're contacted by a ranger or park service or whatever have you but other than that we're in the park we're officially in rocky mountain national park filming well we don't get paid for this but i mean maybe someday it'll be commercial purposes but either way you can do it so do it hey guys welcome to rocky mountain national park we are here at one of the picnic benches near sprague lake and we told you earlier that we were going to talk about the changes that the national park service made to the commercial filming regulations so what did they do so in response or actually i'm going to read the actual guidelines that were um sent out by the national park service on the 22nd of february and it says that national park service is not distinguishing between types of filming such as commercial non-commercial or news gathering low-impact filming activities will not require a special use permit but non-low-impact filming activities may require permit to address their potential impacts on park resources and visitor activities so if you guys are like us um a lot of you are probably youtubers christy and i have our own channel shameless plug the colorado couple it's just the two of us we have a couple of gopros we have a little joby tripod that you can't see right now and then some iphones so what is low impact filming because obviously the park service has shifted away from just blanket commercial filming so if let's say we are filming and we're gonna make money off of this maybe someday we'll see depends on you guys like and subscribe but so let's just say that you guys already have a channel and you want to film in a national park what does low impact filming mean well funny you should ask because i have the definition right here in front of me it is defined as outdoor filming activities in areas open to the public except areas managed as wilderness involving five people or less and equipment that will be carried at all times except for small tripod tripods used to hold cameras like our great joby we have here if low impact filmers have questions about areas where they want to film they should contact the park directly so one thing to keep in mind is the national park service at least with their interim guidelines they don't differentiate between filming outdoors or indoors so straight from the park's website examples of requests that might require a permit include but are not limited to entering a sensitive resource area filming in areas that require tickets to enter or filming in visitor centers campgrounds or other visitor areas the decision to require a permit rests with the park superintendent based on potential impacts to park resources or the visitor experience so we don't know for sure what this is going to do or how it's going to play out once the mandate comes down but think about this so you are in a campground you're outdoors are you covered do you need a permit we're not really sure yet so in an abundance of caution we have not filmed anything that falls under these kind of gray areas right now we're at bear lake and we thought about trying to film in the campground decided against it so when in doubt call and see what's going to work whether you need a permit or whether you don't what does this mean for you you are going to be considered low impact filming whether for commercial purposes or not if one you are only using equipment that can be carried at all times two your team is comprised of five or less people three you're filming outdoors and in areas that are not designated as wilderness areas four and guys this is probably the most important regardless of what filming permit or otherwise you have to abide by all normal park rules so just because now we can film in the park and we don't need a permit for low impact commercial filming doesn't mean that we can go around violating other park rules going in closed areas restoration areas or otherwise follow the park rules remember only you can help prevent future laws against commercial filming in the parks these are just interim guidelines which means that since the court case just got decided the park service put these into effect rather quickly because they had to address the issue right now so these are subject to change the park service is going to have an opportunity to go back and create a final mandate make sure that you like and subscribe throw something down in the comments we're going to do our best to follow this along especially since we have rocky mountain national park in our backyard and we're going to drop another video once the final mandate comes out so stay tuned subscribe and stick with us guys thank you so much for sitting through the video we are super excited that we can now film the national parks so in addition drop a comment below on what you want to know about the park what you want to see us film in the park what are your questions what do you want to see tell us and we'll make it happen [Music] you

Channel: The Colorado Couple

Views: 741

Keywords: nps, national parks, rocky mountain national park, national park service, filming, commercial, can you film, colorado, karaandnate, fines, gopro, hero 8, joby, tripod, cameras, videographer, youtuber, youtube, digital content creator, 2021, travel, for profit, business, low impact filming, new guidelines, restrictions, mandates, laws, rules, court, rmnp, explore, vanlife, digital nomad, van life, rv, tourists, documentary, video, the colorado couple

Id: XthwPq6DSuk

Length: 9min 18sec (558 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 09 2021