A Canadian who walked along fringes of Grand Prismatic Spring on Tuesday was fined more than $8,000/NPS file photo.
Two of five High On Life pranksters who were cited for vandalism in Yellowstone and Death Valley national parks pleaded guilty Tuesday, but the other three entered not guilty pleas and were to be appointed court attorneys.
The five appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Carman in the Yellowstone Justice Center in Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming. During their appearance, Hamish Cross and Parker Heuser pleaded guilty to violations in Yellowstone and Death Valley, park officials said Tuesday evening.
The group, consisting of Charles Ryker Gamble, Alexey Andriyovych Lyakh, Justis Cooper Price Brown, Parker Heuser, and Hamish McNab Campbell Cross, were the subject of multiple investigations by the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management, a park release said.
Mr. Cross pleaded guilty to charges in Yellowstone that included disorderly conduct by creating a hazardous condition and foot travel in a thermal area. He agreed to pay more than $8,000 in fines, fees, restitution, community service assessments to Yellowstone Forever, the park's friends group.
Mr. Heuser pleaded guilty to two violations in Death Valley National Park that included riding a bike in wilderness and commercial photographs without a permit, the park release said. He will also pay for collateral fines that stemmed from violations at the Bonneville Salt Flats (BLM). He agreed to pay more than $1,000 in fines and fees. Mr. Heuser was not charged with any violations in Yellowstone.
Both individuals will be on probation for five years, which includes being banned from public lands managed by the U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
On May 16, 2016, a visitor contacted park rangers in Yellowstone National Park after seeing four individuals walking on the fringes of Grand Prismatic Spring. During the course of the investigation, park rangers identified the four individuals involved in the violations and arrest warrants were issued. Through the use of social media and tips from the public, additional investigations were conducted about the group’s activities on other federal lands.
This video was provided to Buckrail.com and Pitchengine Communities by a person who wishes to remain anonymous.
The High on Life group was issued violation notices from Zion National Park, Death Valley National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, Corona Arch (a BLM site in Utah) and Bonneville Salt Flats (another BLM site in Utah).
“The judge’s decision today sends a very clear message about thermal feature protection and safety,” said Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk. “Hamish Cross’s egregious actions damaged a world-class hot spring and risked his own life, coupled with the lives of responding rangers. We look forward to the outcome of the case regarding the three remaining defendants.”
Harm can be done by walking on bacterial mats that surround thermal features like Grand Prismatic Spring. The colorful mats contain communities of thermophiles, or heat-loving organisms. Walking on the mats damages the microscopic communities and the footprints left behind impact the visual landscape people expect in Yellowstone.
Scalding water also underlies much of the thin, breakable crust around hot springs like Grand Prismatic Spring. Many hot springs are near or above the boiling point and can cause severe or fatal burns. More people have been injured or killed in hot springs than any other natural feature in Yellowstone. For example, a fatality occurred in June, 2016, at the Norris Geyser Basin when a man walked off the designated boardwalk, slipped, and fell into a hot spring.
Comments
Since most people carry cameras or cellphones while visiting National Parks, as many of them as possible should film these fools and then turn the footage over to the Rangers. Perhaps if more of them were caught, the incidents would start to decline.
Agreed, Ottoman. But it would help if magistrates were much more severe in sentencing -- and if the penalties in laws were increased from mere wrist slaps to some jail time and large doses of public service.
Much higher fines and, perhaps, some time in jail to think about what idiots they are.
These are the same fools who also damaged the surface of the already threatened Bonneville Salt Flats. These childish simpletons thought they were being cool speeding a huge six wheeled motor home across the flooded flats towing two wake boarders while horribly ripping up the salt surface which has been getting thinner every year. All of them need jail time so they can reflect on the damaage they caused while having "fun" and generating photos for their juvenile website.