U.S. Park Service Halts New Web Cams, Web Ads

The National Park Service director has banned new Web cameras at all parks and ordered Yellowstone to drop plans to show corporate sponsors on its Internet site featuring the Old Faithful geyser.

“Advertising is not allowed in parks and will not be allowed in virtual parks, which is what these Web sites are,” Robert Stanton wrote in a June 29 memorandum to Yellowstone Supt. Michael Finley.

He imposed a moratorium on any new Web cameras in all national parks pending a meeting “to fully air the current and emerging concerns and develop a strategy that best serves the public and the parks.”

The moratorium halted Yellowstone plans for a new Web cam at Norris Geyser Basin last week, park spokeswoman Marsha Karle said.

The park’s Internet page has become the most popular Web site operated by the park service and draws computer users from around the world.

“What has happened in Yellowstone served a purpose in making us stop and take a closer look at this and how we should be handling this technology,” David Barna, a park service spokesman in Washington, D.C., told the Billings Gazette. “The idea of corporate logos and names in parks is something no one’s going to stand for.”

The newspaper disclosed last week that Yellowstone officials were seeking corporate donations of $5,000 for placement of company names for six days on “sponsor recognition banners” above a live image of Old Faithful.

Park officials said the banners were simply a way to acknowledge donations, not a form of advertising, which is prohibited by park service policy. No companies had made donations in exchange for exposure on the Yellowstone Web site.