U.S. Forest Service Admits Putting Surveillance Cameras on Public Lands
March 19th, 2010Via: Island Packet:
Last month, Herman Jacob took his daughter and her friend camping in the Francis Marion National Forest. While poking around for some firewood, Jacob noticed a wire. He pulled on it and followed it to a video camera and antenna.
The camera didn’t have any markings identifying its owner, so Jacob took it home and called law enforcement agencies to find out if it was theirs, all the while wondering why someone would station a video camera in an isolated clearing in the woods.
He eventually received a call from Mark Heitzman of the U.S. Forest Service.
In a stiff voice, Heitzman ordered Jacob to turn it back over to his agency, explaining that it had been set up to monitor “illicit activities.”
I went to a public park near Portland OR to meet with a tracker friend, one thing he pointed out to about 10-20 feet from the path into the park, a sensor, probably counting the number of people entering and leaving the park.
My friends and family of a “certain type” often joke that while a good hunting dog can fetch a pretty penny, the man who can train a dog to point on trail cams will be rich beyond imagining.