Canadian will pay fine for wakeboarding on Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats

[accadacca]

Two members of a Canadian lifestyle group will be banned from America's public lands and will have to pay thousands in fines for their antics in national parks and on Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats.



Members of High on Life attracted the Bureau of Land Management's attention earlier this year after sharing photos of three costumed men wakeboarding on the flooded Bonneville Salt Flats behind a blue bus emblazoned with the High on Life logo.

The BLM cited Parker Heuser and three other men for creating a hazard to public lands or its users; operating passenger OHV off of designated areas or trails; and failure to obtain a special recreation permit. Commercial videographers are required to obtain a permit before filming on the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Heuser pleaded guilty to the citations and agreed to pay roughly $1,000 in fines, according to Thomas Fleener, a Wyoming-based defense attorney who represented five members of High on Life during their initial court appearance.

Kimberly Finch, a spokeswoman for the BLM, said $610 of that penalty covered citations associated with the Bonneville Salt Flats; the rest was related to the group's activities in California's Death Valley National Park.

Fleener said a second client, Hamish Cross, pleaded guilty to citations from Yellowstone National Park and agreed to pay some $6,000 in penalties. Cross was not involved in the Bonneville Salt Flats case.

Heuser and Cross will be placed on probation for five years, during which time they will be banned from all public lands managed by the U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Department of Agriculture, or U.S. Amy Corps of Engineers.

Three other High on Life members — Charles Gamble, Alexey Lyakh and Justis Brown — have pleaded not guilty to various citations out of a desire to contest the penalties, Fleener said.

"All three are good young men who want to take responsibility for their actions and who have come down voluntarily from Canada to subject themselves to U.S. court proceedings," he said. "They are looking forward to moving on with their lives and putting this behind them."

Fleener said he will not represent any member of the High on Life group at future hearings; a conflict of interest caused him to withdraw, he said.

Driving off-road on the Bonneville Salt Flats is prohibited when the salt crust is wet. When dry, the salt flats form a hard, pavement-like surface, but when wet, the weight of a vehicle can cause the layers of mud and salt to collapse, potentially causing irreversible damage to the salt crust's structure.





The BLM launched an investigation in May when the agency was forwarded photos from the Bonneville Salt Flats that High on Life had posted to its Facebook page. During the course of investigations by the BLM and the National Park Service, rangers used social media and tips from the public to identify the individuals in the photographs and to investigate the groups' activities on other federal lands, according to a park service press release.

Four members of High on Life were first reported by a concerned citizen in Yellowstone National Park, who said he had seen the individuals leave the boardwalk to walk into Grand Prismatic Spring.

Five individuals associated with the group received violation notices from Zion National Park, Death Valley National Park, Yellowstone National Park and Mesa Verde National Park. In addition to the violations associated with the Bonneville Salt Flats, the BLM also cited members of High on Life for violating a temporary closure order at Corona Arch.

All photos here

Videos here




Source: SLTRIB

[Scott P]

This was probably one incident in which almost all user groups would agree, from environmentalists to the drag racing crowd and most people in between.

[BruteForce]

These guys are buffoons and should be strung up by their testes for a period of time to not be less than 12 hours.

As an aside, how did that bus *NOT GET STUCK* in that muck?

[accadacca]

As an aside, how did that bus *NOT GET STUCK* in that muck?

I wondered that too.

[accadacca]

Four members of High on Life were first reported by a concerned citizen in Yellowstone National Park, who said he had seen the individuals leave the boardwalk to walk into Grand Prismatic Spring.

Five individuals associated with the group received violation notices from Zion National Park, Death Valley National Park, Yellowstone National Park and Mesa Verde National Park. In addition to the violations associated with the Bonneville Salt Flats, the BLM also cited members of High on Life for violating a temporary closure order at Corona Arch.

Sounds like they have a track record of acting like asshats.

[Iceaxe]

Short answer is they didn't get stuck because they were on the salt and not the alcalyd. The alcalyd flats is what you drive across on I-80. The interstate actually only cross a very small corner of the actual salt flats right at the rest area.

In the fall the salt crust is hard enough to drive on and if it rains the water sits on top of the salt. It's similar to water sitting on top of concrete. Someone with good knowledge of the salt flats was obviously with them as there are only certain places where the salt is actually hard enough and thick enough to do this. One of the few of which is right down the center of the land speed course. It does tear the shit out of the race course, which has hundreds of hours of prep time put into it every year.

[Iceaxe]

Here are a couple pictures from Speedweek 2014 when the rain hit right as the event was about to begin. This was an isolated thunderstorm that lasted about an hour. The problem was it dumped right on the salt flats. This caused the cancellation of 2014 Speedweek.

[Scott P]

Sounds like they have a track record of acting like asshats.

Yes, and not only in the USA.

They were also caught climbing on the Holocaust Monuments in Berlin and doing handstands.

They also posted photos of them climbing on some monuments at Machu Picchu and laughing about "getting yelled at by the guards 18 times"

[rockgremlin]

Hmm...methinks they're high on something other than life.

[uintafly]

These idiots also got busted for illegally going into sensitive areas at Yellowstone. I notice when they get caught they always say the same thing, "we are good people who just got carried away and made a little mistake." I think at this point we can safely say they are not good people.

[Sombeech]

Hey I'm just glad nobody is mad at them for using a drone