U.s. District Court

Park officials say the ground in hydrothermal areas is fragile and thin, and there is and acidic scalding water just below the surface.

"'I got out to go back and talk to him and that guy came out with a machete...a big black machete, about three feet long... that's what it looked like...'"

Hambrick ordered Skinner to pay $1,250 in community service to the Park's nonprofit partner Yellowstone Forever.

This case is reminiscent of an incident in May 2016 when of a group of men with a Vancouver, B.C.-based company called "High on Life"walked on the Grand Prismatic Spring.

Suspect Victoria Zupko told law enforcement she made more than $100,000 the previous year selling fentanyl pills.

Some of the plaintiffs claim the local leadership pressured them to vote to admit Smith and ignored their concerns or else face retaliation.

Gordon said, "Enacting a moratorium at a moment when coal is badly needed to ensure a secure and reliable energy supply is wrong-headed on many fronts."

28 year-old Michael Defrance appeared in U.S. District Court on Monday before Judge Kathleen DeSoto on a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm.

Each of these misdemeanor violations is punishable by a jail term of up to six months.