Joshua Tree National Park to close because of damage, likely for shutdown's duration

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Joshua Tree National Park to close because of damage, likely for shutdown’s duration

By MARY FORGIONE
JAN 08, 2019 | 10:20 AM

Joshua Tree National Park will close to all visitors Thursday because of damage to the park during the partial government shutdown, now in its third week. Without rangers on hand, visitors created new roads by driving off pavement and defaced the park’s namesake Joshua trees, a park spokesman said Tuesday.

“The way it looks right now because of resources or lack thereof, we have about eight rangers that oversee a large park, we will remain closed until appropriations are put into place to reopen,” spokesman George Land said Tuesday. .... Land said the decision to close the park was made at the national level. Earlier during the shutdown, the park’s toilets and trash barrels overflowed, prompting many volunteers to step up and try to help clean the park.

Other parks have felt the strain of visitors pouring into their unstaffed facilities without paying entrance fees. Yosemite National Park shut the popular Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias and two campgrounds because of human waste and trash on roadsides that pose a public health hazard.

In Death Valley, the Furnace Creek and Texas Springs campgrounds closed last week, along with access roads to Natural Bridge, Dante’s View and Keane Wonder Mine. The road to Salt Creek is also closed. Much of Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks are closed too.
....

Read more: https://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-joshua-tree-national-park-to-close-shutdown-20190108-story.html

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David Fahrenthold Retweeted

https://twitter.com/Fahrenthold

To prevent further damage, Joshua Tree National Park will close to all visitors Thursday as the shutdown drags on. Unsupervised visitors have already created new roads through the desert and defaced its namesake Joshua trees, a park spokesman says

Link to tweet

[2naSalit]

1. Yup.

That's what they will do unsupervised. Perhaps this will renew some respect for park rangers and other workers in these places.

[benld74]

2. ALL parks should have been closed

No questions
His best and brightest
Not knowing what they
Should do

Pathetic
Terrible

[Xolodno]

3. Every park should have been shut down....

....previous shut downs they were. But people furious about vacation plans being ruined, local economies decimated, etc. probably played into the decision to keep them open this time despite lack of funding. Don't think that plan is working.

[Hekate]

4. Good news but a bit late

All the parks should have been immediately shut for the duration. Too many people are absolute pigs.

[MBS]

5. About time. n/t

[Gowright]

6. Interesting

I wonder how long the shutdown will last.

[ripcord]

7. The people who are trashing the parks are idiots

Honestly we shouldn't need rangers and armed park police to protect our National Parks from the two legged trash.

[nwduke]

8. Remember when the right wing wingnuts

were screaming about get the federal government out of public lands and give it back to states to control? 2 weeks into trumps shut down and our national treasures begin to get destroyed by his deplorables!

[Yeehah]

9. Because that's what they want to do - destroy it.

They want to run their goddamned ATVs over every inch of protected back country because they're too goddamned lazy to put a rucksack on their back and hike.

[Raine]

10. Disgraceful of people

to behave like that!

[nitpicker]

11. Link to The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/08/joshua-tree-park-closed-shutdown-vandalism-latest