Pierce Brosnan pleaded guilty Thursday to stepping off a trail in a thermal area during a November visit to Yellowstone National Park. The actor, who called in to the court hearing, was fined $500 and ordered to make a $1,000 donation to Yellowstone Forever—a nonprofit organization that supports the park—by April 1, court records show. A second petty offense, for violating closures and use limits, was dismissed by US Magistrate Judge Stephanie Hambrick, the AP reports. Brosnan had pleaded not guilty to both counts in January. Brosnan, 70, walked in an off-limits area at Mammoth Terraces, in the northern part of Yellowstone near the Wyoming-Montana line, on Nov. 1, according to the citations.
He was in the park on a personal visit, the US Attorney's Office for Wyoming has said. Mammoth Terraces is a scenic spot of mineral-encrusted hot springs bubbling from a hillside. They are just some of the park's hundreds of thermal features, which include spouting geysers and gurgling mud pots, with water at or near the boiling point. Going out-of-bounds in such areas can be dangerous: Some of the millions of people who visit Yellowstone each year get badly burned by ignoring warnings not to stray off the trail. Getting caught can bring jail time, hefty fines, and bans from the park—punishments given trespassers regularly. Brosnan's attorney, Karl Knuchel, was not immediately available for comment.
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