These days we expect to to see a bit of graffiti in an urban landscape, but in our National Parks? Unfortunately, graffiti is not unheard of in the National Parks, and officials are discovering more instances of vandalism in recent times.
The most recent example is the tagging of a 1,000 year old American Indian village in Sequoia National Park. Officials found the words “Villa dad and Isiah 09″ etched into the stone, but removed the marks quickly and carefully, to avoid damaging the ancient pictographs nearby.
Though the graffiti problem in parks is mostly concentrated around urban-area parks and monuments, NPS officials believe much of the damage is due to ignorance. They cited the specific marks made on the rock in Sequioa NP, which were not gang-related symbols. (As an aside, the vandalism of park property can be considered a felony and is punishable by steep fines and possibly even prison time).
Although there are plenty of volunteer groups that often go around cleaning up graffiti and garbage from popular trails, the most important way to combat this problem is with education. NPS uses strategically-placed signage near high-traffic areas to inform visitors (and potential taggers) to the consequences of vandalizing property. However, this approach is not possible in the wilderness without disturbing the natural landscape further.
With all of this mind, next time you find yourself in a National Park with a temptation to make your mark on the landscape, think twice. Is it really worth $20,000 and up to two years in prison (the maximum sentence for vandalizing national property, National Parks land included)?
You can ead about the Sequoia National Park vandalism in the Fresno Bee.
-via Backpacker.
