POTA Pulls the Plug on 85% of French Parks — And a Volunteer Resigns Over It
/Parks on the Air has become one of the biggest growth stories in amateur radio over the last few years, but this August it found itself at the centre of a row that's got a fair chunk of the community talking.
In August 2026, the POTA board removed roughly 85% of France's park references from its database, ruling that the locations — largely ZNIEFF ecological zones — didn't meet the programme's global criteria for state or federal public land. The fallout was immediate: France's POTA mapping representative resigned in the wake of the mass deletion. [source]
What Triggered the Purge
Eligibility mismatch — The French team had built out references using ZNIEFF areas, a French ecological zoning designation that often includes private property or land without guaranteed public access, which put them at odds with POTA's usual qualifying standards.
Global standards, no exceptions — The POTA board's position was that references failing to meet the programme's standard criteria for public park infrastructure couldn't be grandfathered in indefinitely.
A communication breakdown — Volunteers say they heard little from the central organisation before the references were pulled en masse, which did nothing to soften the blow.
It's the kind of story that touches a nerve well beyond France — anyone who's put time into building out park references for POTA will recognise the frustration of watching that work disappear with little warning.
