UAV round-upBureau of Land Management to deploy UAV to Idaho

UAVs, they are not just for hunting terrorists or patrolling the border anymore. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which has the authority over the vast tracts of U.S.-owned property in the Midwest, is considering deploying a $15,000 hand-launched drone to help oversee the vacant expanses of eastern Idaho. The craft, whose type or manufacturer was not released, would monitor vegetation and streams in areas largely used for animal grazing and human recreational activities such as hunting. “More supervision to ensure the terms and conditions of permits to use public lands is always a good idea,” said Jon Marvel of Western Watersheds Project, an environmental group that focuses on federally managed lands in California, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. Law enforcement would not be among the drone’s areas of responsibility.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, remote controlled planes already fly above New Mexico and Maryland for similar purposes. But as good as this idea sounds, it has run smack into the libertarian nature of Gem Staters who are already irritated with the federal government for its, shall we say “expansive”, view of executive authority to intercept American phone calls and mail. The drone “would be like the environmentalists sneaking up on you,” said Wayne Butts, a member of the County Commission in Custer County, where 96 percent of the land is publicly owned. “They may be taking pictures of a plant or two, but where does it stop? Do we have to grab our pitchforks and our guns?”

-read more in this Reuters report