Rienzie v. Haaland: The national parks belong to the American public. We should be allowed to film there without seeking government approval.

Each year, tens of millions of people visit America’s national parks and record their experiences by taking videos and still photographs.

But while the National Park Service broadly encourages park visitors to take photographs or videos in all areas generally accessible to the public, it treats “commercial” filmmakers very differently.  Federal law requires them to first obtain a permit and pay a fee before they may press the “record” button. Anyone from a documentary filmmaker to a YouTuber who records a family trip without a permit risks fines and even criminal prosecution. 

What's worse, obtaining a permit can be time-consuming, costly, and extremely unpredictable. Government bureaucrats, who can ignore a permit request or decide that it is incompatible with the park's “values,” have the complete discretion to grant a permit or not.

Alex Rienzie and Connor Burkesmith experienced this arbitrary and unjust permit system firsthand. Alex and Connor are documentary filmmakers who wanted to capture an attempt to summit Grand Teton in the fastest known time. Alex and Connor knew they might use the footage to produce a documentary film, so they filed for a permit. But NPS denied the permit and pocketed the non-refundable $325 application fee. Because Alex and Connor filmed the attempt anyway, they could be prosecuted simply for filming with small handheld cameras and tripods in areas of the park where they were otherwise entitled to be if they use any of the footage.

This permit scheme makes little sense. These regulations were created to prevent large-scale film productions from taking over the parks. But the current regulations aren’t made for a world where, with a smartphone, everyone has a digital film studio in their pocket.

But the permit scheme is not only illogical, it is also unconstitutional. That’s why on December 18, 2024, FIRE filed a lawsuit on behalf of Alex and Connor as well as the National Press Photographers Association, an association that represents close to 5,000 visual journalists, including Alex and Connor. The lawsuit seeks to block NPS from enforcing its permit and fee requirements against individuals who are filming in places where they are otherwise lawfully entitled to be. Our National Parks belong to the public: the public should be allowed to film there without getting the government’s permission.