this is kind of frustrating to be honest. I've been going to this reservoir spot for like two years, always got great shots there, never had any issues with rangers or anyone really. went out last weekend and there was a sign saying drone use prohibited and a ranger came over pretty quickly and told me the whole area was now restricted. I asked why and he just said something about wildlife protection regulations but couldn't give me specifics. I looked it up when I got home and couldn't find anything definitive, like the FAA sectional chart still shows it as class G airspace so it's not an airspace thing. is this even legal for them to do? can a park or state land just ban drones even if the FAA says the airspace is fine? I feel like there's two different systems operating here and nobody told anyone

yeah unfortunately this is a thing and it trips up a lot of people. FAA controls the airspace but land managers, so like state parks, national parks, city parks, whoever owns the land, they can absolutely ban drones from their property even if the airspace above it is perfectly legal to fly in. it's kind of a dual jurisdiction situation that the FAA themselves have acknowledged. so you can be in class G airspace with zero restrictions from an aviation standpoint and still be trespassing or violating local ordinances if the landowner says no drones. national parks have had a blanket ban for years for example. sucks for sure but the ranger was probably right even if he couldnt articulate the specific regulation

same thing happened to me at a beach near here, flew there dozens of times then one day there were signs up. I actually emailed the parks department and they sent me back some local ordinance PDF that had been passed like eight months earlier. so it can happen quietly without any real announcement. might be worth contacting whoever manages that reservoir directly, sometimes there are specific times or areas that are still ok, like maybe breeding season restrictions that only apply part of the year or something. worth asking at least before you write the whole spot off