A former National Park Service superintendent said it may take centuries for Joshua Tree National Park in California to recover from damage that occurred during the government shutdown.
Curt Sauer, former chief of Joshua Tree, spoke during a rally by fans of the park Jan. 26, reported The Desert Sun newspaper in Palm Springs:
Park gates remained open during the shutdown as vandals cut down several Joshua trees and damaged rocks. Without park maintenance crews for the first three weeks, volunteers stepped up to clean bathrooms and collect trash.
Sauer, who retired in 2010, praised the work of volunteers and lamented the damage caused to the park from illegal campfires, camping and vehicle travel.
“What’s happened to our park in the last 34 days is irreparable for the next 200 to 300 years,” he said.
National Parks Traveler reported earlier in the month:
“There are about a dozen instances of extensive vehicle traffic off roads and in some cases into wilderness,” Smith replied when asked about the damage in the park. “We have two new roads that were created inside the park. We had destruction of government property with the cutting of chains and locks for people to access campgrounds. We’ve never seen this level of out-of-bounds camping. Every day use area was occupied every evening.
“Joshua trees were actually cut down in order to make new roads.”
Joshua trees typically take 60 years to mature and can grow as old as 500 years.
It’s likely more reports of image at other national parks that occurred during the shutdown will emerge in the coming weeks.
Numerous national parks closed at the start of the shutdown, and parts of other parks closed because of the accumulation of human waste and trash.
Joshua Tree National Park lies less than an hour’s drive south of Route 66 from Amboy, California, and is a popular side trip for Mother Road travelers.
Joshua Tree, which encompasses nearly 800,000 acres east of Los Angeles, became a national park in 1994 but originally was designated a national monument in 1936.
(Image of a cut-down Joshua tree in Joshua Tree National Park by the National Park Service)
There is a saying, “When the cat’s away the mice will play.” And when the cops are away, the criminals ‘play’. This is simply sickening vandalism by people who get their kicks through destruction – of anything not their own. In the history of unintended consequences, will Donald Trump be considered a contributor to what happened here?
Yes. He explicitly wanted the shutdown.
Thanks, Ron. I doubt if the Joshua Trees have been the only casualties. Does he care? If ever a tree surgeon was needed it is now.
Everybody can play the blame game. My opinion is that it’s the fault of Nancy Pelosi, the Democrats in the House, and the people of California. Since the park is in that state it’s most likely that Californians are responsible for the damage.
Yes, Vincent, most likely locals. But pro-Trumpers, or anti-Trumpers, or just let’s go and destroy America-ers? What will happen when CA leaves the Union? Which “Route 66” beer had the destructionists been drinking?
My point was to counter the implied suggestion that the shutdown was soley Trump’s fault. In reality it was Congress’s fault in that an appropriation bill was never passed. It is the Congress’s responsibility to pass appropriation bills so the President can sign them. We’d all be better off if California leaves the way the state is run unless they decide they want to follow the US Constitution.
https://youtu.be/5n-Y4TIgktg
Nice try. He was daring the Democrats to pass an appropriations bill, which is their responsibility, in this particular meeting. The House led by Pelosi has not passed an appropriations bill in this session, other than the omnibus bill that would reopen the government for 3 weeks while they work out a solution that meets the needs of the country not just the Republican or Democrat parties. The Congress, under both parties have not passed the 12 appropriations bills required by regular order to fully fund the government since 1996. They’ve relied on continuing resolutions to fund the government because they don’t have the courage to govern as they are supposed to.
You’d think Mr. “Art of the Deal” wouldn’t give ’em enough rope to hang himself.
Time will tell.
As you all know, I am sure, we in the UK are having our own ‘party problems’ over what is called “Brexit” – Britain leaving the European Union. We have a prime minister – Theresa May – with the job of getting us out and to our benefit, not the EU’s. But she voted for the UK to remain in the EU, and has spent two years since the national referendum that marginally voted Yes to leaving on pussyfooting with the bosses of the EU – because she does not want us to leave the Union. And most Members of Parliament do not either, not even those of her party – the Conservatives – who are the Government at present.
You have the problem of your president wanting one thing, and both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party wanting something different. Our problem is the conflict between what the majority voted for in the referendum and what most MPs want. I and many others who voted leave thought our choice would be acted on immediately and firmly. But a millionaire woman who has a chain of shops and wants the UK to remain went to the High Court and got a judge to say Parliament – the MPs of all parties – must have the actual say on the UK leaving. So, for two years we have had debate after debate in the House of Commons and outside, fudging everything. There are demands for a second referendum because it is claimed the voters did not know what they were voting for; any excuse not to put the result into action.
So in the UK conflict between “the people” and Parliament; with you, conflict between your president and your ‘Parliament’. And it is called democracy in action!!
In Australia, for decades even a century or more, Western Australia has wanted to leave the Commonwealth of Australia. Like California, it is a very distant state from the seat of government. Like California it is a very rich state – from its minerals. Perhaps having the fantasy world of Hollywood as its most famous attribute blurs the eyesight of CA politicians.
And don’t forget CA’s other often fantasy world, Silicon Valley, with its ever weirder virtual life creations. They would create hologram Joshua Trees and pretend all was as it was!