Photo by Jeff Vanuga
Yellowstone’s geysers, mud pots, and hot springs offer magical glimpses of the powerfully roiling geologic forces that in other places remain hidden well beneath the earth’s surface. That makes it hard to imagine that careless visitors can inflict ruinous damage on the park’s awe-inspiring geothermal features.
Yet, since people started touring the region, some haven’t been able to resist damaging irreplaceable attractions. Some commit deliberate vandalism, but others may unintentionally injure sensitive thermal areas simply by wandering off the boardwalks and trails that the National Park Service maintains for visitors.
After the national park was created, the federal government assigned the U.S. Army to protect the park, partly to prevent tourists from deliberately or carelessly harming geysers and other natural features. Even in later years, visitors have thrown coins, diapers, and other items into geyser pools. Years ago, one visitor was fined for tossing a block of dry ice into a geyser trying to make it erupt.
Two summers ago, park officials say, rangers cited visitors for collecting a souvenir by chipping off part of Mammoth Hot Springs’ natural formations. In 2003, two Washington state men were arrested after driving a truck around two barriers, then spinning doughnuts in fragile soil called “sinter” that surrounds Lone Star Geyser. But Yellowstone geologists say visitors also cause inadvertent harm by ignoring warnings to stay on designated paths.
Researchers take great care when they venture out into geyser fields, but visitors may damage sensitive areas by leaving shoeprints or even breaking through the thin surface that covers thermal areas. In addition to getting severely burned, “anytime you step off a boardwalk, you can disturb a very sensitive geothermal formation,” says Hank Heasler, Yellowstone’s chief geologist.
