Background
Oregon Parks and Recreation Department paused the process of creating new rules to guide drone use at the direction of OPRD Director Lisa Sumption after a conversation with of the Oregon State Parks and Recreation Commission during its April 13, 2022, meeting. The director’s decision follows a two-month public rulemaking process that generated much public feedback both in support and critical of the proposed rules.
Following this decision, the department convened a workgroup to draft criteria for mapping where drones are allowed to take off and land in state parks and along the ocean shore as a preliminary step before resuming rulemaking. The workgroup will report its results to OPRD Director Lisa Sumption.
OPRD invited members to the workgroup who represent a wide range of interests and expertise, including conservation organizations, drone enthusiasts and trail users. The workgroup is tasked with proposing standards for where drone take-off and landing should either be allowed or restricted. Members will then work closely with park managers to apply the standards to create maps showing proposed drone take-off and landing locations in state parks and along the ocean shore.
Once those standards and maps are drafted, the department expects to restart the rulemaking process and form a Rule Advisory Committee to propose rules guiding drone use. The committee will invite the public to review and comment on the new proposed rule, which will still be subject to change during the public review. The goal is to recommend new rules in time for the 2023 summer season. Check back for updates.
May 2, 2022 press release
Public commenting from the 2021-22 rulemaking process closed at 5 p.m., April 15, 2022.
Public hearings
Virtual public hearings took place on March 30 and 31, and there was an OPRD Commission Meeting on April 13. See links below to watch these events.
Attention: The corrected file below includes all public comments received between February 16, 2022 and April 4, 2022, 11:00 am. Six comments were accidentally omitted due to human error and are highlighted accordingly (see pages 162, 168, 269, 402, 414, and 502). We have corrected our comment posting procedures to avoid this mistake in the future, and we sincerely apologize for the omissions.
To learn more, visit the following links: