Open House on Forest Service's Proposed Commercial Photography Guidelines

In response to the public’s call for clarity surrounding the United States Forest Service’s proposed commercial filming and photography permit guidelines for wilderness areas, the Forest Service is hosting public open houses in Seattle and Portland next week.

The open houses will provide attendees with the opportunity to meet with Forest Service staff one-on-one to discuss the intent of the permitting process and have questions answered.

In a letter to staff this week, Forest Service Chief Tidwell said:

There has been considerable response to the recent release of a proposed directive for commercial filming in wilderness. The release of the proposed directive raised significant concerns beyond the intended scope of the directive. The intent of this directive is to finalize a consistent set of criteria to be used to justify permitting commercial filming in wilderness within the authorities and restrictions of the Wilderness Act. The proposed directive never intended to restrict the appropriate use of National Forest System (NFS) lands for personal and commercial filming or photography activities. Nevertheless the directive raised significant concerns among journalists and the general public about access and the first amendment. The proposed wilderness directive does not define commercial filming or still photography, but the proposed directive did generate conversation around those activities.

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We have planned a series of public sessions to gain input on the proposed directive to ensure we understand all concerns before issuing a final directive.”

Attend an open house

Seattle: Wednesday, November 12
5:00pm to 7:00pm
The Mountaineers, 7700 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle 98115

Portland: Thursday, November 20
3:00pm to 4:00pm
Oregon Public Broadcasting, 7140 SW Macadam Ave., Portland 97219
Note: the Portland meeting was rescheduled due to weather.

Background

On September 4, 2014, the US Forest Service issued a notice that they were seeking public comments on a proposal to formally establish criteria for evaluating requests for commercial filming and photography in wilderness areas. The comment period originally ended on November 3, 2014 but due to the high level of public interest, the Forest Service extended the comment period to December 3.

Want to weigh in? Submit a formal comment to the Forest Service using the green button on this page.