For unwanted Drone control.
Posted on 01/10/2007 1:09:43 PM PST by Issaquahking
OVERSEEING GRAZING
SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - A U.S. government agency is considering using unmanned surveillance planes, or drones, to help oversee remote areas of eastern Idaho, raising concerns in a region deeply wary of outside interference.
Officials the Bureau of Land Management office responsible for most of eastern Idaho may initially buy one hand-launched drone for an estimated $15,000 to help keep track of the vast, thinly populated area.
They said the unpiloted aircraft, with a wingspan of about 4 feet, would monitor vegetation and streams in areas used largely for grazing and recreation and there were no immediate plans to use them for law enforcement.
But with Americans already concerned over increased government surveillance under President George W. Bush's war against terrorism, the mere suggestion of a camera-equipped plane over public areas sparked controversy in this intensively independent region.
"It 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?"
Melodie Baker, whose family has ranched for six generations among the sage flats and alpine canyons near Idaho's East Fork Salmon River, said she is afraid the data collected by the drones "would be used the wrong way."
"Every time the government comes up with something that's supposedly helpful, it ends up causing problems and is detrimental to ranchers," she said. Conservationists applauded the idea, saying there should be greater oversight of federal grazing and other leases.
"More supervision to ensure the terms and conditions of permits to use public lands is always a good idea," said Jon Marvel, executive director of Western Watersheds Project, an environmental group that focuses on federally managed lands in California, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming.
Terrance Booth, a rangeland scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Wyoming, said remote controlled planes already fly above New Mexico and Maryland for similar purposes.
The Bureau of Land Management said it would be some time before the Idaho project got under way and that it would hold public hearings before any drones took to the skies.
"These discussions are very preliminary, but we know these UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) are the wave of the future," said Lance Brady, a geographic information systems expert with the bureau.
UAVs have become a critical tool in the U.S. military's operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, where they are widely used for reconnaissance and intelligence, and for keeping watch on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The model being considered in Idaho could remain airborne for about five hours at a stretch. Officials said unpiloted planes also could prove valuable for assessing wildfires without endangering people.
For unwanted Drone control.
I've never seen that. I had the B-52s song in mind...
YOU da ho!
The terrain images of uninhabited areas in Google Earth are way out of date. The images of our farm date from July, 2002, and our area is positively swarming with people compared to eastern Idaho. Government satellites rarely take close-in images of the west the way these drones will be able to.
Knowing something about how the environmentalists work in the west, this is hardly a good development for any private property owner.
He's right to be suspicious. Around here, the environmentalists used satellite monitoring to go after the local irrigation companies, and take their water for "endangered" fish.
"Do we have to grab our pitchforks and our guns?"
Yes, that's a start. Rural America is dealing with a fascist and communist bureaucratic infestation from the criminal syndicate occupying Washington. Thinking like that places you on the "Go" square in the stupid game the crook politicians are forcing on us.
Here's a zen koan to solve: How is it possible for a house member to sit in congress for 6 years and become a multi-millionaire?
A correct answer advances you to square No. 2.
Two years ago, a team of R/C modelers constructed a 5 foot
wingspan model and flew it across the Atlantic non-stop.
Radio controlled at the start and end, GPS auto-pilot for
the rest. Landed in Ireland. So five hours isn't out of
the question.
Mike Callahan
Did the BLM *ever* strike you as having anyone anywhere bright enough to purchase something that advanced?
Sounds like the classic case of a FedGov hammer looking for nails. Note the reference to fire spotting. (rolls eyes)
Walt, Duty may call upon us again...Ping
The danged thang is housed and controlled from a base right up the road from here at that base up by Marysville! They gots this room filled with danged teenaged geeks gittin off on wigglin their little joysticks around and around, to reconoiter alla us rednecked radickles... Ha Ha Ha!!!
Yep! The fricken inmates are runnin the asylum. Even Rush was startin to figure that out and confirm it on today's show!!!
The boarder crossing from Canada to the US into Idaho are much concern to me. This vast stretch of landscape where the boarder is very uncertain. Unless you have a GPS.
I'm Idaho born and raised and I guarantee Idaho grows plenty of kinds of hackles in addition to spuds. There's plain old garden hackle, nearly any size you need from little reds to big crawlers; Strung Chinchilla, Indian Rooster Saddle Patches, Indian Hen Backs, Spey Hackle, Whiting Hackle, Keough Hackle, Metz Hackle, any kind of feathers you want plus lots more. What kinds of flies and streamers do you tie?
bkmark
The DOI flew a fixed wing down the canyon at low elevations to do videography on the river. It drove cattle into fences out of fear.
Cattle can be set off by weird flying things. I remember seeing a heard of cattle stampeding up a trail with a panda hot air baloon hovering behind them. (It was hillarious and I never will forget it.)
The drone might also interfere with threatened and endangered birds and their nesting.
This is also a matter of privacy. I have no doubt that the drone would speedily find itself in pieces if it flew over areas of my district.
LOL
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