Scroll a little upwards on the page @chefjrb quoted (link) and you’ll find this:The explanation of flying into and out of wilderness areas was incorrect. People either quit reading or simply do not care about their impact on the animal life and why it illegal to fly over/in/through these areas to begin with. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that the national forest service is not going to agree with your lengthy assessment and lack of research that was done (check the attachment)… I’m actually surprised that the impact on animals is not enough of a reason to not use the drone in those areas to begin with seeing as how you seem to be an avid outdoorsman...
“UAS are considered to be both “motorized equipment” and “mechanical transport” as such they cannot take off from, land in, or be operated from congressionally designated Wilderness Areas.”
It is not legal to take off from, land in, or operate in wilderness, which is protected as above. This is similar to restrictions by many agencies and landowners who consider drone operation from their property a trespassing use. And they have that right. However, it’s also established that overflying most (not all) of those properties is permissible use, as part of our National Airspace System (NAS), regulated by the FAA. Typical exceptions relate to the air traffic controlled areas around airports, and sensitive areas relating to national security.
Wilderness airspace is not excepted from the NAS, though drones are also required to be flown within Visual Line of Sight (VLOS), which is restrictive of legal overflights of wilderness areas, national parks, national monuments, etc. Practically speaking, only the first few hundred feet can be flown within VLOS.
It is not legal to harass wildlife. That’s true nationwide, on public and private lands of all kinds.
My read is that @Karlewski did neither of those things in the video, nor has he done so in his other videos. The mere presence of a drone or other aircraft above public lands - even wilderness lands - does not mean harassment has occured.
Maybe I missed something in the video. Is there harassment of wildlife? Are there other hikers whose enjoyment of the wilderness was impaired? To me, the use seems entirely legal and non-harassing of animals and people. And I enjoyed watching it!