The short answer is no, and it has been no since June 2014, when the National Park Service issued Policy Memorandum 14-05 directing every park superintendent to close their unit to unmanned aircraft. That closure was implemented under 36 CFR 1.5, the regulation that lets the agency restrict activities on the land it administers, and it has been renewed and reinforced ever since.
What the rule actually covers
The prohibition is written broadly on purpose. It bans launching, landing, or operating an unmanned aircraft from or on lands and waters administered by the National Park Service. Three things follow from that wording:
- You cannot take off from a park trail, overlook, parking lot, campground, beach or lake surface.
- You cannot land in the park, including an emergency landing you planned for in advance.
- You cannot hand-launch while standing in the park even if the flight itself stays outside the boundary.
It applies to every unit, not only the famous ones. National monuments, national seashores, national recreation areas, national historic sites, battlefields, parkways and the National Mall are all NPS units. Yosemite, Zion, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Acadia, Great Smoky Mountains — all closed. So is the parkway you drive through on the way there, if it is NPS-administered.
Rangers do enforce this
Why the parks took this position
The stated reasons are wildlife disturbance, visitor experience and safety. Drones flush nesting birds and stress bighorn sheep and elk. In canyon country the noise carries for miles, which undercuts the reason most people drive hours to get there. And search and rescue helicopters operate at low level in exactly the terrain photographers find most attractive.
Whether or not you find those reasons persuasive, the legal position is settled and the parks show no sign of reversing it.
Flying near, but not in, a park
You may take off from legal land outside the park boundary — a national forest road, BLM land, a friend's property, a public area where local rules allow it. Two caveats matter enormously.
First, the NPS position is that flight over park land is still unacceptable conduct even when the takeoff was legal, and enforcement has followed where a flight disturbed wildlife or visitors. Practically: keep the aircraft on your side of the line.
Second, boundaries are not obvious on the ground. Many parks are surrounded by a patchwork of forest service, BLM, tribal, state and private land, and the sign you passed is rarely at the actual boundary. Use a land-ownership map, not a guess.
Airspace and land are separate questions
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National forests, BLM and wildlife refuges
This is where most people find a legal alternative within driving distance.
| Land type | Recreational drones | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| National Park Service | Prohibited | All 420+ units, no recreational permits |
| US Forest Service | Generally allowed | Not in designated wilderness; check local closures |
| Bureau of Land Management | Generally allowed | Not in wilderness study areas; fire closures apply |
| US Fish and Wildlife refuges | Usually prohibited | Refuge-specific rules, often closed for wildlife |
| Army Corps of Engineers | Varies by district | Many lakes allow it from designated areas |
| State parks | Varies widely | Permit, designated-area or outright ban |
Designated wilderness is the recurring exception on otherwise open federal land: the Wilderness Act's prohibition on motorized equipment is read to include drones. A national forest may be perfectly fine one mile and closed the next because you crossed into a wilderness area.
Planning a flight near a national park
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State and local rules stack on top
Even outside federal land, counties and municipalities regulate takeoff and landing in their parks, and several states restrict flight over critical infrastructure or private property. Federal law governs the airspace; state and local law governs the ground you stand on and how you treat other people's privacy. Our state drone law overview covers those differences.
The bottom line
National parks are closed to drones, the penalties are real, and no permit exists for recreational photography. The workable plan is to fly from adjacent forest service or BLM land, keep the aircraft off park property, and check airspace separately. And before any of that, make sure your aircraft is registered — you can check whether registration applies to you in under a minute.