IN NOVEMBER 2018, New York photographer Timothy McGurr caught a nighttime flight to Billings, Montana, drove four hours to Yellowstone National Park, and slipped past the closed entrance gate in order to take-with the help of a drone-a stunning aerial shot of Grand Prismatic Spring at sunrise. He promptly posted the dramatic photo to his Instagram page, which has some 700,000 followers. There was just one problem: The recreational use of drones has been prohibited in almost all national parks since 2014. Violators can be fined $5,000 and sentenced to up to six months in jail. After a public outcry, McGurr took down the photo and eventually posted an apology of sorts, saying that he hadn't known about the rule.As a high-profile photographer, McGurr was called out for his behavior, but plenty of other photographers, videographers, and drone enthusiasts routinely violate the rules. You don't have to look hard to find a deep scroll of online footage taken in national parks and other restricted areas. The National Park Service has recorded more than 2,000 illegal drone incidents since 2015-with 40 of them occurring in Yellowstone last year.
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