Who owns the view? Viral video poses questions about BLM photography permits

“The camera equipment that we had was legit…long story short (BLM) pulled us off at the trail, brought us right to the BLM office and sat down with our team and I just tried to explain to them, look, I’ve been doing Easter Safari since ’95. And, look guys, let’s be honest…the majority of us that are comin’ out to Moab, this beautiful area to do video and film, we don’t pull permits because we think it’s a tough process.”

Posted by editor

In his video below, Ryan Hagel, a professional videographer who does a lot of filming near Moab, Utah, takes an apologetic tone regarding being ‘caught’ by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), having failed to go through proper permitting processes to record footage on BLM-managed lands. Hagel is conciliatory, and a little contradictory (“We think it’s a tough process”–“the permit process is not hard…”), but as a professional and supporter of federal lands management, he says ‘the permit process is not hard. It’s two pages, the cost, it’s not bad…’ at $250 for each location.

Ryan’s experience, however, brings up some serious questions about ‘who owns the view’ in America’s outdoor spaces. Beyond video drones and other more complicated issues, Ryan’s case is one of simply visiting an area and taking pictures and/or video footage. The BLM requires money–and by most standards, $250 is a lot of money–for a permit to record, chronicle, memorialize, or otherwise document the way a certain natural object or vista looks at a given time on a given day. If heavy equipment is required, or sets, large platforms or other structures need to be built in order to accommodate the video project, then perhaps a permitting process is justified. But how is simple videography or photography–even if for commercial purposes–the federal government’s business? How is this just? How is this practice, in itself, legal? Don’t public lands, after all, belong to everyone?

Please share and leave your comments about this BLM policy.

Video produced by Ryan Hagel

Posted on Facebook by Ryan Hagel

“The camera equipment that we had was legit…long story short (BLM) pulled us off at the trail, brought us right to the BLM office and sat down with our team and I just tried to explain to them, look, I’ve been doing Easter Safari since ’95. And, look guys, let’s be honest…the majority of us that are comin’ out to Moab, this beautiful area to do video and film, we don’t pull permits because we think it’s a tough process.”


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Comments

  1. I really wish and hope the BLM would go away, they have no legitimate business in any of the Several States of the Union, same with most of the Federal agencies. The People don’t have much control over these Federal Agencies and they really are foreigners in a State.

  2. The Bureau of Land Management, emphasis on the word “Management” was put in place to “manage” our lands for us, the public who own the land. What they have morphed into is the Bureau of Land Permission. Failure to get permission might just land you in jail, or result in unbelievable fines. You have to ask permission to drive on our own roads, to walk on our own grass, to camp on our own lands, now you have to pay money to take pictures or film. They have a word for when the government weaponizes federal agencies against the public to get them to submit to their wishes. It starts with an F and ends with ism.

  3. This is communism pure and simple. Last year the BLM pulled a man out of his truck at gun point and hand cuffed him at The King Of The Hammers off raiding event in California. Their reason? Because he had Texas licence plates and his tag was on his back window, which is what they do in Texas. This year, everyone will be ready for the blm with cameras.

    1. It’s this simple, when eye to eye with the enemy whether foreign or domestic, shoot to kill.

  4. I went to see the Wave formation at vermilion cliffs NM. You had to buy a permit to hike the 3 miles into it and only 10 permits were issued per day. I even had to buy a permit for my dog!

    1. I’m surprised they didn’t charge you in the anticipation of passing gas and adding to climate change.

  5. Only through this governments overreach and Gestapo tactics can they manage lands owned by the public. The federal government can only own lands in accordance with our Constitution, they do not own public lands! The Bureau of Interior is an enemy, when confronted they should be treated like any other enemy of this nation. If they threaten your life or livelihood, just like any other enemy, they should be physically removed. Enemies can be both foreign and domestic!

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