Social media has led to another bust in a graffiti case, this one in Zion National Park in Utah where a visitor thought previous scribbles on a rock on the path to Angels Landing made it OK for him to add his own.
It turns out that a photographer who fell in love with Zion at a young age came upon the graffiti, photographed it, and placed the photo on his Facebook page. The post caught fire, and the perpetrator, whom photographer Joe Braun had tracked down, was being inundated with hate mail.
"I have been in contact with the person who did this and they have contacted Zion's NPS to make it right. We all make mistakes and it's great when people own up to them. Please don't send any more hate mail to this person," Mr. Braun wrote the other day on his page.
Monday afternoon the park sent out a release about the incident, saying that they have been in contact with the person who left the most recent graffiti.
"The social media backlash for the perpetrator’s action has been swift and severe, prompting him to admit to the wrong-doing and cooperate fully with the on-going investigation. Criminal and civil penalties are pending," the park said.
Park law enforcement appreciate the tips that have poured in and hope that this incident will serve as a deterrent to anyone else contemplating vandalizing one of America’s treasures. Chief Ranger Daniel Fagergren encourages visitors to report any type of illegal activity occurring in the park but also asks that visitors not cross the line of taking enforcement action themselves.
Park staff cleaned the site Monday, but restoration can often be very time consuming and costly. Defacing any part of the national park or other public lands, degrades the experience for other visitors, and is an illegal act. The adages, “Take only photographs, leave only footprints,” and “Leave No Trace,” still apply in our national parks and are keys to leaving the beautiful landscape unimpaired, the park release said.
A couple years ago there was a case in which a New York City woman traveled the West and left images in acrylic paint in many parks. In 2016, Casey Nocket pleaded guilty to defacing government property, according to the National Park Service. She was sentenced to two years probation and 200 hours of community service.
According to court documents, Nocket damaged rock formations within seven national parks over a 26-day period in 2014, drawing or painting on them using acrylic paints and markers.
In a case that drew national attention, Nocket was tracked via photos on her Instagram account. National Park Service investigators confirmed that images were painted on rocks and boulders in Yosemite National Park and Death Valley National Park, both in California; Rocky Mountain National Park and Colorado National Monument, both in Colorado; Crater Lake National Park, in Oregon; and Zion National Park and Canyonlands National Park, both in Utah.
That case, by the way, was brought to light by bloggers at the Modern Hiker website who tracked the crimes via photos on an Instagram account that documented paintings scattered throughout the park system.
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Comments
The “artist” from two years ago got off way too easy. We need to make the penalty for doing this a better deterrent than what it currently is. A more substantial fine and community service for an extended amount of time is more in keeping with the severity of these actions. Some of this damage cannot be undone and it is up to us to make sure it doesn’t continue.
Please make the fine large and use it to post signs with penalties to those would deface our national treasures.
Just last week I attended the Colorado Outdoor Industry Leadership Summit in the Mountains, a forum for businessses in the Outdoor industry. As part of the project, the audience joined "workshops" on a variety of issues. Diversity, Health and Wellness, Workforce Housing et al. I participated in one on Public Lands. There were about 8 of us in the group including USFS Ranger, a rep from Smartwool, and a number of advocacy groups. Our charge was to identify a major issue that needed to be addressed and propose some solutions. While a number of issues were raised the consensus of the group was the lack of respect while using public lands. Initially the thought was that it was an education issue but the more we discussed it became obvious it was more a values and attitude issue. i.e "I don't live here only visiting, let the ranger clean up after me" or "I want my name carved in stone, I don't care, I won't have to look at it after I leave". Unfortunately addressing values and attitude, especially of short term visitors, is difficult at the local level so our sollutions ended up focusing on the educational level. In my opinion, issues like the graffiti and generally misuse of public lands reflect a general deterioration of basic values that should be instilled in our homes and schools. Not that these haven't always been a problem but it does seem worse today in a time when we are, or should be, better informed.
I dunno, EC, I'm ancient enough to remember the big environmental education push of the late 60's and early 70's when TV, radio, magazines, newspapers and other outlets were full of public service ads pushing environmental concerns. Littering and vandalism were two that were prominent.
Based upon my persnal observations and experiences, I do believe those intensive educational efforts really did pay off quite well. There was, for awhile at least, a big reduction in litter and trash. There really was a noticeable change in the general American attitude toward our environment. Rachel Carson brought attention to insecticides -- and people listened because the foundation had been laid by those educational efforts. High level government officials like Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall wrote powerful books like The Quiet Crisis, and even a couple of presidents spoke up. Big corporations, seeing the groundswell of public opinion joined in because they were afraid of customer backlash if they didn't. We had the first Earth Day and for several years thereafter, school kids were out lending their hands to environmental efforts. There was even a time when science and scientists were actually respected.
But then, it all slowly died down as Americans turned their attention to other things. The ads and PSAs faded out and companies like Monsanto and Exxon went to work with ads of their own. Big money jumped into the fray as oil companies, chemical companies, and other profiteers whose bottom lines were being trimmed a bit took up battle in courts and took advantage of diminishing public attention to reverse at least some of the gains we had managed to make. There were real efforts by ranchers and others who resented restrictions on their abusive practices to paint "environmentalists" as some kind of kooks.
The generation that grew up in those days of Envrionmental Action grew up and turned their attentions elsewhere. There may have been a feeling among some that the Clean Air and Water Acts had somehow solved the problems and rivers would no longer catch fire and air would be breathable forever.
On top of that, there's a very real part of human nature to regard whatever world we were born into as if that is the way things should be and always have been. (There's a wonderful book whose author and title I simply cannot recall right now that explains how that works. Everyone should read it. I'll keep looking and when I find it, I'll let you know.) And so, as new humans are born and grow up, they automatically accept slow degredation of our planet simply because they know nothing else.
I really believe it's high time for another big environmental movement. Time for PSA slots to be donated by TV and radio stations and for newspapers and magazines to donate space for print ads. And, above all, it's time for political leaders and big companies to recognize their responsibilities as fellow stewards of our planet. But I'm not very optimistic because for too many powerful people the Almighty Dollar has become their only God.
Lee, it isn't Monsanto or Big Oil that is littering our trails, feeding the wildlife, leaving bags of dog poop and leaving campfires unattended.
'... or tearing up wetlands with their big oil exploring trucks.... oops...." Or maybe it is.
Eric, I get your general point - Timothy Tentpeg dropping his empty beer can or Clif bar wrapper are a significant problem. Lee's point above is equally true.
Timothy Tentpeg leaves an unattended camp fire leading to the scorching of hundreds/thousands of acres is a significant problem. More damage than the damage from "exloring trucks" and the failure of the NPS to enforce the rules.
Eric, despite your statements that you expect us to accept by your fiat, they are merely a W.A.G., in particular since they are made by a frequent apologist for corporations in general.
Actually, in review, there is nothing substantiated in your statement, and it is merely conjecture at an outcome that supports your personal views.
You know better than that.
Rick, could you please identify what statment was a "W.A.G" and what statement was "merely conjecture at an outcome"? I have no idea what you are referencing.
Eric:
Sorry. This part.
"
Timothy Tentpeg leaves an unattended camp fire leading to the scorching of hundreds/thousands of acres is a significant problem. More damage than the damage from "exloring trucks" and the failure of the NPS to enforce the rules.
"
There is nothing that is conjecture nor a guess about that statement. It is fact. Wildfires caused by unattended campfires have burned millions of acres. Seismic trucks have impacted a tiny fraction of that.