A U.S. judge in Flagstaff ordered an Alaska man to pay $1,500 for routinely dumping food scraps* in the Colorado River and illegally collecting firewood during a 12-day rafting trip through Grand Canyon National Park earlier this year.
The man, 75-year-old Nels Nicholas Niemi, is also on the hook for nearly $1,000 in court costs, bringing the total penalty to about $2,500. Niemi was leading a noncommercial rafting trip and was well aware of the rules of the river, . Niemi told one of the rafting participants that the trash he dumped 鈥渨ould provide food for the fish,鈥 . The penalties against him are a reminder that the rules of the park 鈥渨ill be vigorously enforced,鈥 .
聽Niemi was employed by a commercial expedition company that advertised itself as a proponent of the 鈥淟eave No Trace鈥 principle, but declined to name the company.
There were more than 97,600 noncommercial users of the Colorado River last year, . Enforcing rules against trash dumping in national parks is generally 鈥減retty hard,鈥 Grand Canyon National Park Law Enforcement Specialist Laura Van Inwagen .
*An earlier version of this story stated that聽Niemi dumped trash in the Colorado River, while he dumped food scraps. The headline was also changed to reflect that聽Niemi was not acting as a certified guide on the trip.