Hikers Say Vandalism Is Ruining Arches National Park Amid Shutdown: 'What's Wrong With People?'
Another page was added to the book of notorious incidents amid the federal shutdown. The U.S. government has temporarily closed its services like national parks, removing employees who once manned these areas, while keeping the entry open for visitors. As a result, the public has gone rogue, indulging in activities that are otherwise banned and frowned upon. Hikers who once explored these parks looking for peace are now faced with the least desirable outcome of the shutdown. Nature lovers can't tolerate seeing these sites get ruined and are voicing their concerns out loud. At Utah's Arches National Park, visitors are vandalising its iconic rocks with ugly graffiti and toilet paper.
Hikers clicked pictures of the red rock vistas that have been vandalized. "Breaks my heart. What is wrong with people?" one person wrote on Facebook, as per the Daily Mail. "Sad," another added. The news of Arches National Park was reported amid increasing vandalism at national parks. A stone wall at Gettysburg Devil's Den was recently toppled in Pennsylvania, and a fire broke out at Joshua Tree campground in California. Allyson Mathis, a retired national park worker, spoke about the "heartbreaking" destruction and blamed the record-breaking government shutdown for that.
"If rangers were out on patrol, people might not have felt that they could vandalize the area. Arches is extremely vulnerable," she told Outside magazine. She said that if rangers were patrolling, the chances of people damaging the park properties would have been less likely. It's been 40 days since the shutdown was initiated, the longest the U.S. history. The ban was imposed over a funding disagreement, leading to about 1.4 million federal workers and park rangers being furloughed without pay. When Mathis took a tour of the Arches, she found several rocks inscribed with unnecessary graffiti. "It was everywhere," she told the outlet. "It was heartbreaking and upsetting, but unfortunately not surprising."
The national park is a picturesque site with over 2,000 natural, red-hued sandstone arches spread across the landscape. However, the graffiti seems to have ruined the aesthetic view of these rocks. Graffiti on park rocks is not unusual, but they are often lightly engraved and can be removed easily. However, the Arches graffiti are something else. The park officials revealed that the drawings are "etched so deeply" that they are "impossible to erase," as per CBS News. This wasn't the only incident of vandalism that came to light. Earlier this month, Superintendent Kate Cannon revealed to the outlet that the graffiti in the park was spread across 4 feet and was about 3 feet long.
This isn't the first time massive vandalism news came to light amid the federal shutdown. Previously, many visitors at the Yosemite National Park indulged in BASE jumping, an adventure activity that is banned in all national parks. "It’s like the Wild Wild West," John DeGrazio, founder of the tour company YExplore Yosemite Adventures, told SFGATE of the illegal activity. Although he has caught several hikers in the past illegally BASE jumping off the Yosemite cliffs, he admitted that this time it's different. “These people are counting on no enforcement because of the shutdown,” DeGrazio added.
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