On Thursday afternoon, actor Pierce Brosnan took to social media to apologize for walking onto one of Yellowstone National Park’s sensitive thermal features. Just hours earlier, a federal magistrate had ordered Brosnan to pay over $1,500 for going off-trail in the Mammoth Hot Springs  area last fall.

“I deeply regret my transgression and offer my heartfelt apologies to all for trespassing in this sensitive area,” Brosnan wrote in an Instagram post. “Yellowstone and all our National Parks are to be cared for and preserved for all to enjoy.”

It was a November post to the photo sharing platform that initially landed Brosnan in hot water. The 70-year-old environmentalist had posted several images from Yellowstone, including one that showed him standing off-trail on a snowy thermal feature. 

Brosnan later removed the picture from his account, but on Dec. 26, federal authorities issued two misdemeanor citations: foot travel in a thermal area and violating closures.

Brosnan pleaded guilty to the thermal area violation on Thursday, while federal prosecutors dismissed the other charge. In his afternoon statement, Brosnan characterized his actions as “an impulsive mistake.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office noted there are signs in the Mammoth area “that warn visitors of the dangers of thermal features and state that visitors must remain on the designated boardwalks and trails,” but Brosnan said he never saw them in the snow-covered area.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ariel Calmes recommended the maximum $5,000 fine and two years of probation, but presiding U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephanie Hambrick opted for a lighter sentence.

Hambrick instead fined Brosnan $500 while ordering him to pay $1,000 to the nonprofit Yellowstone Forever’s Geological Fund, plus $40 in a routine fee and assessment. The judge did not order any probation alongside the $1,540 in penalties.

Brosnan, who lives in Malibu, California, appeared remotely at the half-hour hearing. Without offering an explanation, his defense attorney had filed a motion earlier this week that asked for Thursday’s hearing to be delayed. However, Hambrick ordered the actor to appear as scheduled, which he did.

In a news release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and National Park Service highlighted the dangers of venturing off designated trails.

“... the ground in thermal areas is fragile and thin, and scalding water is just below the surface,” the release noted, adding that features can be damaged by footsteps.

The Park Service urged people to “act responsibly and safely and set a good example for others.”

Brosnan closed his Instagram post with the hashtag #StayOnThePath.

He featured a photo of Saint Mary Lake in Glacier National Park, which is located several hundred miles north of Yellowstone. A reverse image search suggests the photograph was originally published by the Great Falls, Montana, Tribune at least eight years ago.

The man who captured the image, former Great Falls Tribune Photo Editor Larry Beckner, was surprised to learn that Brosnan had used his work, though he noted it’s common for people to help themselves to photos.

“If people see it on the web, they think they have a right to it,” he said, “which they don’t.”

Beckner studied at Northwest College in the 1980s and now works as a real estate photographer in Bigfork, Montana. Over the years, his images have been published everywhere from the Powell Tribune to The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times … and now, Brosnan’s Instagram page.

“007 stole my photo,” Beckner quipped, referring to Brosnan’s famed turn as the British secret agent James Bond.

Asked if he’s planning on sending the actor a bill for the photo, Beckner said no.

“I’d never get anywhere,” he said with a chuckle. “Famous people with money, they don’t get in trouble.”