A Salt Lake City man was fined $5,000 for BASE jumping from the Great White Throne at Zion National Park/NPS file
A Salt Lake City, Utah, man was fined $5,000 and banned from entering Zion National Park for two years following his BASE jumping escapades in the park.
On Saturday, March 28, Zion rangers received an anonymous tip that a group of three was planning to BASE jump off of either the Great White Throne or Cable Mountain. Rangers staked out these locations and observed one individual jump from the Great White Throne. This person, identified as Marshall Miller, of Salt Lake City was apprehended later that night after initially evading rangers. Miller had also been a person of interest in a BASE jumping incident that took place during the government shutdown in January of 2018.
Miller pled guilty to jumping from the feature known as the Great White Throne, according to a park release. He also confirmed his involvement in jumping off Lady Mountain in January of 2018 and pled guilty to this incident as well. The court ordered a $5,000 fine and a two-year ban from Zion.
Additionally, Miller was charged with violating a climbing closure of the Great White Throne. The Great White Throne climbing routes have been closed since March 1 to all visitors due to nesting peregrine falcons. Closures are implemented due to the falcons' sensitivity to disturbance during the nesting season. If disturbed, the nesting pair may abandon their nest site and not nest again until the following year.
On the evening that Miller BASE jumped from the Great White Throne, he was wearing a wingsuit that allowed him to glide a distance before deploying his parachute and landing in the area below Angels Landing. The cliff face below Angles Landing is a known California condor nesting area.
On September 25, 2019, California condor chick #1000 took its first flight from its nest on the cliffs below Angels Landing, becoming the first wild-hatched chick to successfully fledge within Zion National Park since recovery efforts began in the late 1990s and likely the first in Zion in over 100 years.
“BASE jumping near nesting falcons and condors increases the chances of these parents being displaced or flushed from their nest or roost site which will increase the nest’s vulnerability to predators and could potentially result in nest failure,” said Janice Stroud-Settles, a park biologist.
BASE jumping is illegal in all national parks. Since 2013, the Zion National Park Search and Rescue Team has recovered two bodies related to BASE jumping in the park.
“BASE jumping is an extremely dangerous sport,” said Zion Chief Ranger Daniel Fagergren. “When a fatality occurs, the search and rescue team often has to manage an additional amount of risk while recovering the body from the extreme vertical terrain. We would like to thank the United States Attorney's Office in Saint George, Utah for their support in prosecuting this important case.”
Support Essential Coverage of Essential Places
Comments
He should be banned for life.
It would have been better to give this serial offender 1) some jail time in addition to the fine, 2) a two-year ban that covers all NPS units instead of just the "slap on the wrist" Zion ban, and 3) a specific two-year probation period covering any and all violations of the NPS ban.
A $5K fine may seem like a lot to many folks; but, many, not all but many, of these guys can only afford this kind of hobby because they are the spoiled children of relatively well off families, actually have more money than they need, and thus won't really remember a $5K fine a year from now. But, many these brats spend money recklessly and thus also need their day jobs to keep up their monthly cash flow, not to mention keeping their health insurance intact. In those cases, 1) even a ninety day jail sentence will cost them their job, potentially even if they employed by a relative in their extended family there in Salt Lake; 2) their employment record will reflect the lapse as they exit jail and search for their next job; and 3) they'll need to go through the hassle of reworking their health insurance while they do that subsequent job search; all of which will impact their nearterm and longer term incomes, credit ratings, and health insurance coverage and rates. The combination of all of that with a $5K fine might give them something to remember.
The same goes for the park ban. Park bans are easily evaded and, even if this guy can't get into Zion, he probably has the resources, often unearned, to just go cause trouble in the next park down the line, which is especially true if he doesn't also lose his job. However, if the ban covers all NPS units and puts him on probation that will give him more jail time and another job lost if he violates the ban, it might get his attention, although he is a serial offender and probably has little respect for much of anything.
I posted my previous comment as a general comment aimed at all cases like this because I was having trouble positively identifying, couldn't actually believe it was this particular Marshall Miller and still can't believe it. So, can anyone please confirm whether this Marshall Miller is the clown on the "fly with marshall" (https://flywithmarshall.com) website? If so, this case of arrested development is using his commercial website to effusively brag about his relationships with and endorsements by Pepsi, GoPro, the University of Utah and their Huntsman School of Business, Alta, Jackson Hole, Toyota, Five Ten, and yes, even the idiots in the National Park Service. So, no, as I warned in my earlier comment, a $5K fine isn't going to have the slightest impact on this well-heeled, well-connected, "little to no respect for anything" serial offender.
If this is the same guy who had also been a person of interest in a BASE jumping incident that took place during the government shutdown in January of 2018, while displaying the same NPS endorsement logo on his commercial website all this time, it puts a whole new ironic "fingernails on the chalkboard" spin on Ranger Daniel Fagergren thanking the "United States Attorney's Office in Saint George, Utah, for their support in prosecuting this important case."
The park release identified Miller as a "professional athlete."
Very well said.
I second this thougt!!!
I'm glad people are paying attention and caring about this issue. I'm still annoyed about a couple of other questions. First, the article states, "This person, identified as Marshall Miller, of Salt Lake City was apprehended later that night after initially evading rangers." Now, about that "evading rangers" part, my experience and understanding is that "evading rangers" in a national park effectively constitutes both 1) obstructing federal officials in the conduct of their duties and 2) resisting arrest. And, each of those actions, again in a national park, would constitute a federal felony. Was Miller propeerly charged with either or both of these federal felonies and, if not, why not? His ongoing pattern of serial violation, on top of his actions to obstruct and evade federal officials making a proper arrest in the conduct of their federal duties, would seem to be more than enough to constitute behavior beyond just a simple misdemeanor, which, with his wealth and connections, he will simply downplay, minimize, and weasel his way past.
Second and speaking of weaseling, in this case corporate and agency, it does appear that this Marshall Miller actually is the clown on the "fly with marshall" (https://flywithmarshall.com) website. Assuming that's the case, that commercial website is still up and still brashly displaying the endorsement logos of Pepsi, GoPro, the University of Utah and their Huntsman School of Business, Alta, Jackson Hole, Toyota, Five Ten, and yes, still even the idiots in the National Park Service who were endorsing this miscreant at the same time their colleagues in the field were risking life and limb to arrest him. So, if I have all of these connections correct and it sure looks like I do, when can we expect these corporations, agencies, and entities to bother to do their civic duty and disavow this clown? One would think they would all be feeling a little ashamed at this point, although there is a lot of shameless going around nowadays.
So time in jail, potentially catching COVID and dying would better serve justice??
Seriously?