Board of Directors & Staff   Committees   History   Membership Info   FAQs   NANPA Foundation   Link Policy & Logo Usage   Copyrights & Disclaimers	Resource Relations Committee NANPA RESPONDS TO NPS PROPOSALS Four different proposals regarding photography in the National Park System have prompted NANPA action since early April. In the first instance, NANPA was invited by the National Park Service (NPS) to comment on proposed new NPS regulations controlling photography in the parks. The new rules allow photography anywhere visitors can go, but require a Special Use Permit for any photography which needs NPS assistance or would block visitor access. These proposed rules are similar to those followed by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. NANPA's Resource Relations Committee assessed the proposed regulations as well thought out and a fair and evenhanded approach to the parks' management. In a letter drafted by committee chair Bill Silliker and signed by NANPA president John Nuhn, NANPA supported the new regulations, asking only for a clarification regarding liability insurance in any parks having separate professional photographer permits, such as Denali. In a related action, the Resource Relations Committee asked the Advocacy Committee to investigate three bills currently before Congress. Both Senate Bill S.1614, introduced by Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R.-Colo.), and House Bill H.R.2993, introduced by Representative Joel Hefley (R.-Colo.), direct NPS to issue permits and collect fees for filming in National Park areas. Senate Bill S.1693, sponsored by Senator Craig Thomas (R.-Wyo.), is wide-ranging legislation to improve the park system overall. The apparent intent of all the bills is to increase the revenue to NPS for maintenance and to recover the costs in having the parks available for advertising shoots and movie and television productions. The Advocacy and Resource Relations Committees believe the language of the bills is too vague and open to interpretation. H.R.2993 includes motion pictures and television productions but does not mention still photography. Sections 901 and 902 of S.1693 would require permits and fees for any "commercial recorded image," which is defined as a "motion picture, still photograph or other form of visual image produced by any technology", but these sections were later struck from the bill. S.1614 defines "commercial visual depiction" as also including still photography. The Advocacy Committee determined that the bills were unnecessary given NPS' own proposed new rules, and that S.1614 in particular could have widely varying interpretations in addition to being unfair to most nature photographers. At its April meeting, the NANPA Board of Directors accepted the committee's recommendations and letters were sent to the Senators and Representative expressing NANPA's concerns. The Board also requested that contact be made with the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), whose opinions of the bills are similar to NANPA's. In continuing the cooperation between ASMP and NANPA, ASMP managing director and general counsel Victor Perlman spoke of NANPA's concerns at a forum on park photography he attended on April 8. That forum included staffers from Senator Campbell's office, NPS and other Department of Interior and Forest Service offices, and representatives of the movie, television and advertising industries. Perlman also included NANPA's concerns along with ASMP's at a May 14 Senate committee hearing on S.1614 and S.1693. NANPA will continue to follow these Congressional bills closely. To read the proposed legislation on the Internet, call up http://thomas.loc.gov and use the site's search function to look up the bill numbers.         Site Index       Search       Disclaimers       Contact Us   North American Nature Photography Association 10200 West 44th Avenue, Suite 304 Wheat Ridge, CO 80033-2840, USA Phone: 303-422-8527 Fax: 303-422-8894 E-mail: info@nanpa.org   © 2001 All Rights Reserved