A drone for everything.😉

[Biggerhammer]

Drone used to monitor the Skagit Elk heard.

http://www.avionics-intelligence.com/news/2014/04/13/drones-help-monitor-skagit-valley-elk-herd.html

[Special T]

Interesting read

[pianoman9701]

This is disturbing on a great many levels. The Governor, as the article states, has put a 15-month moratorium on drone use by state employees. Yet, the federal government is being allowed to use drones over our state, ostensibly to observe Skagit elk. With the moratorium in place, this could be easily considered a violation of the 10th Amendment to the US Constitution - states' rights. In addition, when I asked Nate Pamplin at the hoof rot meeting the other night where is the USFWS in the hoof rot issue, he said that elk are a state resource and not a concern of the USFWS. Why would this be any different for any other federal agency? One more point is the question "is the Governor allowing federal access to drones over our state and if so, is he requiring the federal government to give a full accounting of the flights and data gathered?" If he hasn't allowed this federal action, what is his office doing to end it?

[JLS]

Last time I checked, the tribes weren't state employees.  It's my understanding that state agencies may not use them.  The bill did not prohibit the use of the statewide.

[pianoman9701]

Last time I checked, the tribes weren't state employees.  It's my understanding that state agencies may not use them.  The bill did not prohibit the use of the statewide.

Nice sarcasm, JLS, but you completely missed or ignored my point. This is happening over DNR land - state owned property. If the state has banned the use of drones by state employees but allows the use of them by the feds, what sense does that make? If the tribes want to use them strictly over tribal lands, not ceded lands, that's up to the tribes. I'm concerned that the Governors office isn't having a say in what's happening over our skies or if it is, that Inslee's allowing the feds to collect data without checks and balances to make sure that data collection is for a specified purpose.

[JLS]

Last time I checked, the tribes weren't state employees.  It's my understanding that state agencies may not use them.  The bill did not prohibit the use of the statewide.

Nice sarcasm, JLS, but you completely missed or ignored my point. This is happening over DNR land - state owned property. If the state has banned the use of drones by state employees but allows the use of them by the feds, what sense does that make? If the tribes want to use them strictly over tribal lands, not ceded lands, that's up to the tribes. I'm concerned that the Governors office isn't having a say in what's happening over our skies or if it is, that Inslee's allowing the feds to collect data without checks and balances to make sure that data collection is for a specified purpose.

I'd say you completely missed mine.  The Governor was concerned about his state agencies.  If he was concerned about the use of drones period in the state, then he should have addressed that.  He didn't.

[pianoman9701]

Last time I checked, the tribes weren't state employees.  It's my understanding that state agencies may not use them.  The bill did not prohibit the use of the statewide.

Nice sarcasm, JLS, but you completely missed or ignored my point. This is happening over DNR land - state owned property. If the state has banned the use of drones by state employees but allows the use of them by the feds, what sense does that make? If the tribes want to use them strictly over tribal lands, not ceded lands, that's up to the tribes. I'm concerned that the Governors office isn't having a say in what's happening over our skies or if it is, that Inslee's allowing the feds to collect data without checks and balances to make sure that data collection is for a specified purpose.

I'd say you completely missed mine.  The Governor was concerned about his state agencies.  If he was concerned about the use of drones period in the state, then he should have addressed that.  He didn't.

That's assuming that he was sharp enough to consider federal use in our state and I'm not quite sure he's even pondered that the Feds would. It would certainly seem contrary to the point of disallowing their use by state employees. In either case, I think it's important that the issue be addressed. You're a Federal employee, aren't you JLS? Some kind of LE, I believe.

[JLS]

It would certainly seem contrary to the point of disallowing their use by state employees. In either case, I think it's important that the issue be addressed.

My guess is that his intent was about the actions of his state agencies and not wanting them associated with drone usage.

My second guess is that he isn't really concerned about drone usage across the board, or it likely would have been adressed.

I believe as the bill is written, there is absolutely nothing that would prohibit county or municipal agencies from using drones either.

[nocklehead]

Fast forward about 10 years and every hunter will have a small insect size drone assigned to them with their tags, it will be required to be active during a harvest.

[Redneck Russell]

Fast forward about 10 years and every hunter will have a small insect size drone assigned to them with their tags, it will be required to be active during a harvest.

Have you seen the youth of today? In ten years there will be know 10 years from know. If they are our future then we will have none.