A Yellowstone National Park tourist who trespassed in a dangerous thermal area in July will spend seven days in jail.
Madeline S. Casey, 26, of New Hartford, Conn., was sentenced Aug. 18 in Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming, in the park’s northwest corner. Casey also was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine, another $1,000 to the Yellowstone Forever Resource Fund, and $40 in fees.
The violation occurred July 22 at the Norris Geyser Basin. Casey and one other person left the boardwalk and walked across a thermal feature, to the consternation of tourists who documented their actions with cameras.
Yellowstone’s thermal areas are lined with boardwalks and signs warning tourists not to step from boardwalks onto the fragile and extremely dangerous thermal surface.
“Boardwalks in geyser basins protect visitors and delicate thermal formations,” Morgan Warthin, Yellowstone National Park Public Affairs Officer, stated in a U.S. Justice Department/District of Wyoming news release issued Wednesday. “The ground is fragile and thin and scalding water just below the surface can cause severe or fatal burns.
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“More than 20 people have died from burns suffered after they entered or fell into Yellowstone’s hot springs.”
Added Acting U.S. Atty. Bob Murray: “For those who lack a natural ability to appreciate the dangerousness of crusty and unstable ground, boiling water, and scalding mud, the National Park Service does a darn good job of warning them to stay on the boardwalk in thermal areas.
“Yet there will always be those like Ms. Casey who don’t get it. Although a criminal prosecution and jail time may seem harsh, it’s better than spending time in a hospital’s burn unit.”
The case was investigated by Yellowstone National Park law enforcement officers and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Atty. Stephanie Hambrick.
–Images showing Yellowstone thermal features are courtesy of NPS/Yellowstone National Park