Blinds in a National Park?

Hi everyone, my dad and I are about to go back to Badlands National Park to see if we can locate and photograph the bobcat family we encountered last trip. I think anybody can imagine how difficult photographing a bobcat is, and most of time they don't come close to the road, so I was wondering if anybody has experience using a blind in a national park (granted we maintain the legal distance from the wildlife). I read the park regulations and they stated nothing about using a portable blind to photograph wildlife, and the blind I have is a pop-up tent like blind that can fit about 3 people. If you want to call it a tent, well then there is no permit required to setup a tent in the park, and therefore there should be nothing wrong with it....right? I guess the thing I'm worried about is being approached by a ranger and end up scaring away wildlife, or having him/her tell us we cant setup a blind when there is no rules saying we cant. Thanks in advance, Joe

Why not call their headquarters and ask them, then you can be absolutely sure?

Using a blind, you might be considered a commercial photographer and subject to all the permit and insurance requirements. If you call it a tent, you might not be allowed to set it up outside of a campground.

In the end, Mia has exactly the right idea.

Cheers,
Mark

I work for the NPS and I would definitely contact the park directly either by phone as Mia suggested or check out their website www.nps.gov and e-mail them from the contact provided there. All parks are different and subject to different rules based on their enabling legislation. At my park there are areas where such a blind would be allowed and others where it would be forbidden. In all cases you would be less likely to have a negative encounter with a ranger if you had made contact before hand and explained your intent. In most parks commercial photography involves models so you probably wouldn't cross the line there.

Oh and I forgot to mention that just because a law/rule/regulation is not prominently posted/easy to find the individual is expected to know the law anyway. We used to have a joke when I attended the Federal Law Enforcement Academy that we put on t-shirts, You are entering your federal lands. Stop what you are doing. It is probably illegal. The reality is that to protect resources and visitors there are a lot of rules and regulations and you wouldn't want a sign posted for every one of them. The forest of signs wouldn't make for good photos but it is another good reason to contact the park before hand.

Thanks for the replies, I will definitely call the park headquarters tomorrow and make sure there are no regulations against it. Also, last time we were there we had a friendly chat with a ranger and actually received some great info on the behavior of the cats, so I think it will be important to notify any rangers in the area of our intentions, just so they know.

Joe, you've gotten good advice here. It never hurts to ask first, and you'll likely pick up some valuable info in the process. It doesn't seem like setting up a blind would be a problem, although you probably would not be able to leave it up while you were not in it. And while it may not seem like an impact, it might be considered one if it's near an active den or set up on sensitive vegetation (for example).