Permit for photos?

Take only photographs. Leave only footprints.

That’s the mantra for visiting wild lands.

Or at least it used to be.

Now the feds want to add a caveat: “Make sure you purchase a $1,500 permit for those photographs.”

Under a directive issued by the U.S. Forest Service last week, permits would be required by journalists, film crews and even hobbyists to shoot photos or film in designated wilderness areas. The new rules would even require newspaper photographers to obtain special use permits before entering a wilderness area.

But it isn’t so much the plan to charge for photos that both...