The retired park ranger who spotted graffiti last week in Arches National Park says she’s worried bare-bones staffing in the government shutdown is making it harder for the park to find out who’s responsible for the vandalism and clean it up.
Allyson Mathis was hiking with a friend Nov. 5 in Devils Garden, a popular hiking area with arch and spire formations, when she spotted white paint on several rocks in the shape of hand prints, a smiley face, other shapes, and writing that said “Grug.”
“It was so obvious that it was new, and so I’m like, ‘Shutdown-related damage. This is not good,’” Mathis said Tuesday. “When rangers are out there visible, I think people are more likely to respect the park.”
The vandalism illustrated yet another impact of the shutdown that has sidelined about 9,000 National Park Service workers who are not collecting paychecks while furloughed. The closure also halted scientific monitoring of landscapes and wildlife, said Mathis, who lives in Moab and previously was a park ranger at Grand Canyon, Canyonlands and Capitol Reef national parks.
Utah’s parks have remained open during the lapse, with the state chipping in $8,000 per day since Oct. 4 to keep visitor centers running. A slim staff of rangers is working, with a focus on keeping sightseers safe.
“Their ability to investigate has been impaired this last number of days because they’re not fully staffed, and so they’re focusing on taking care of that life, health and safety,” Mathis said.
She noted national parks sometimes ask the public for information to help them get to the bottom of vandalism, but that doesn’t appear to have happened as of Tuesday.
On the same hike last week, Mathis also spotted used toilet paper near the graffiti and saw someone walking a dog on the hiking trail, which is prohibited in Arches.
The Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, a nonprofit organization of former park service employees and volunteers, said the graffiti shows why the parks should be shut down for the time being.
“We continue to call on the administration to close national parks during the shutdown until adequate staffing and protections can be restored,” the group said in an Instagram post. “Our parks don’t run themselves; they rely on dedicated public servants to keep them clean, safe, and unimpaired for future generations.”
Mathis told Utah News Dispatch she’s hopeful those who want to see national parks protected will get in touch with their representatives in Congress.
Said Mathis: “I hope that we come together and we make it very clear to our congressional group of representatives and administration that we love these places and we want them protected.”
This article was originally published by Utah News Dispatch.
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About the Author
Annie Knox covers public safety, environmental issues and immigration for Utah News Dispatch.
