this happened last weekend and its still kind of bugging me. I was flying at a state park in colorado, nothing crazy just cruising around over a lake, had my FAA registration number on the drone and everything. a ranger came over and told me i needed a permit to fly there and that drones were prohibited in the park. I honestly had no idea. I checked the FAA map before going and it showed the airspace was fine but I guess state parks have their own rules on top of that? he let me off with a warning but im confused about how this all works because i thought federal airspace rules were the law

do state parks in colorado actually have the authority to ban drones even if the FAA says the airspace is clear? feels like a contradiction but maybe im missing something

yeah this trips a lot of people up. the FAA controls the airspace but land managers like state parks, national parks, BLM etc control the land and what activities are allowed on it. so the airspace above a state park can be totally unrestricted from the FAA's perspective but the park itself can still say no drones allowed on their property. its kind of a dual jurisdiction thing. colorado state parks i believe do require a permit for commercial drone use and some have outright bans depending on wildlife concerns. you really have to check the specific park's rules separately from the FAA stuff. the B4UFLY app doesnt always capture land use restrictions only airspace restrictions

ugh this is exactly why I just stopped flying at parks altogether, too much hassle figuring out which rules apply where. I had a similar thing happen in utah, airspace was clear, no TFRs, everything looked good and then got told to land because of some local ordinance. honestly the FAA map giving you a green light means almost nothing if you're flying over any kind of managed land