I was there in 08 and rangers were worried about Norris basin increase in activity back then.
The rangers have always been worried because they want Yellowstone to be a museum and a political cash cow. These are the same people who refused to let the park renew itself for over a hundred years and then there was the Yellowstone fire (nature won). They claimed that the park would be sterile and ruined for generations. Four years later the park was more healthy than it had been in a 75 years. Rangers and political scientists have politicians in common.