National Park Service Director Robert Stanton has ordered Yellowstone National Park to drop a plan to show corporate sponsorships on its Internet site featuring the "Old Faithful" geyser.
Park officials said the "sponsor recognition banners" would not be advertising, but Stanton said they were too closely resembled an ad to be permissible, the Associated Press reported.
"Advertising is not allowed in parks and will not be allowed in virtual parks, which is what these Web sites are," Stanton wrote in a memorandum dated last Thursday to Yellowstone Superintendent Michael Finley.
Stanton also imposed an immediate moratorium on installation of any new Web cameras in all national parks pending a meeting to discuss the matter.
The Billings Gazette disclosed last week that Yellowstone officials were seeking corporate donations of $5,000 in exchange for placement of company names for six days on "sponsor recognition banners" above a live image of Old Faithful Geyser on the park's Web site.
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