Yellowstone National Park citations and arrests.
Yellowstone covers more than two million acres across three states and answers to one courtroom. Whichever entrance you came through, the case goes to the United States Magistrate Judge at Mammoth Hot Springs. I appear in that courtroom, mostly for visitors who are home in Texas or Toronto before the notice is entered.
Call or text me. Clients get my cell number from day one, and I answer. Got a violation notice? Here's what happens next.
Read it in your language. Talk it through in your language.
Every page of this National Parks chapter is written in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, French, German and Italian. The consultation is a video call with attorney Aaron Herzberg, carried in your language by live translation software, at no additional charge.
Three states, one courthouse.
Congress placed Yellowstone under exclusive federal jurisdiction in 1894 and assigned the Montana and Idaho portions to the District of Wyoming for judicial purposes. A stop on the road in from West Yellowstone is a Wyoming federal case, and Montana's marijuana law stops at the entrance station.
The Yellowstone Justice Center has a full-time magistrate judge, a branch of the U.S. Attorney's Office upstairs, a courtroom built for video appearances, and holding cells for people arrested in the park. It runs like a federal court because it is one.
The thermal basins, where leaving the boardwalk is a regulation written for Yellowstone alone; the wildlife jams in Lamar and Hayden; the Grand Loop, forty-five by default, worked with radar; the campgrounds and lodge bars after dark; and the backcountry: permits, fires, food storage.
Where in the park it happened.
Four places, four kinds of case.
- The geyser basins. Foot travel off the boardwalks and marked trails in any thermal area violates a regulation written specifically for Yellowstone, it cannot be paid by mail, and in the last two years the court has imposed jail time for it in cases involving a few feet of trespass and no injury. The thermal-area page.
- Lamar, Hayden, and the roadside. The cases that get prosecuted are the ones with a camera on them: touching a calf, walking up to a bull for a selfie. The sentences have included jail and multi-year park bans, and intoxication makes every one of them worse. The wildlife page.
- The Grand Loop and the entrance roads. Speeding, careless operation, open containers, and impaired driving are Yellowstone's volume charges. A refused breath test has meant a week in custody in recent sentences, along with a one-year ban on driving anywhere on federal land. Speeding · DUI
- Campgrounds, lodges, and the backcountry. After dark the charges change character: public intoxication, disorderly conduct, fights, and interfering with a ranger. In the backcountry the cases are permits, fires during restrictions, and food left out. Fishing needs a park permit rather than a state license.
Montana, marijuana, and the outliers.
Bought legally in Montana, and the sentences the government announces
Bought legally in Montana. Cited in Wyoming.
Three of Yellowstone's five entrances are in Montana, including the busiest one at West Yellowstone, and Montana sells marijuana to adults over the counter. Inside the park the federal regulation on controlled substances applies. Marijuana sold for adult use is a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law, and Montana's law has no force inside a park under exclusive federal jurisdiction, so possession of any amount is a charge; a minor marijuana notice can be paid by mail for $400, and anything else requires an appearance. Medical patients are in newer and less settled territory since the 2026 federal rescheduling of state-licensed medical marijuana, which the marijuana page covers. The same visitor may find that a firearm carried lawfully in Montana is restricted in park buildings, that a state fishing license means nothing on the Madison, and that a drone that was legal at the motel in West Yellowstone is prohibited a mile down the road.
The practical point is that a Montana state lawyer cannot appear at Mammoth as a matter of course, a Montana court cannot touch the case, and the disposition will be decided by a Wyoming federal prosecutor and a Wyoming federal judge. The marijuana and drug page covers the possession cases in detail.
The cases the government announces
Driving off the road into a thermal area and then walking in it is charged twice, once for the driving and once for the walking. A third-offense DUI here drew ten days, $3,050, and three years' probation with a ban. The court also has a standing order requiring the government to hand over the exact regulation and penalty for every citation on the morning of the hearing.
- 01A few feet off the boardwalk at Old Faithful or at the Mammoth terraces: five to seven days in custody
- 02Into a closed thermal area at Norris: a week in custody, a $1,500 fine, and a two-year ban
- 03Off the road into a thermal area, then on foot: a week in custody, $1,050, five years' probation with a ban
- 04Disturbing a bison while intoxicated: ten days, $3,450, two years' probation with a ban
- 05DUI with a refused test, three visitors in one September week: a week in custody each, bans, fines of $800 to $1,650
- 06Reckless driving, open container and refusal: a week in custody, $1,020, a ban from the park and a year off federal roads
- 07Camping and fire violations plus resisting arrest: ninety days
From U.S. Attorney's Office announcements of sentences imposed at Mammoth, 2024–2026, chosen by the government for deterrence. They are the ceiling, not the typical result; most Yellowstone citations end as a forfeiture, not a conviction. Every case turns on its own facts.
Asked about Yellowstone specifically.
I was arrested near West Yellowstone or Gardiner. Is that a Montana case or a park case?
Do I need a Wyoming lawyer or a Montana lawyer?
How do I find out what happened to my ticket?
What are the wildlife distances, exactly?
Can I be banned from Yellowstone?
The ranger took my fishing gear, my drone, or my rocks. Do I get them back?
Find your citation.
Every page below is written for one kind of notice. Start with the one that matches yours.
Start with a confidential conversation with Aaron Herzberg.
National-park matters begin with a thirty-minute call, and almost everything after that can be handled from wherever you are. Book it through the chat button in the corner of this page, or send the note here and my office will call you, usually the same business day. Have your violation notice in hand so we can read the box together, and call or text any time. Video consultations are available in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, French, German and Italian, with live translation software, on request.
40 E Simpson Ave, Jackson, WY 83001 · by appointment · video consultations for out-of-state clients · info@puzzlegroup.com