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30 January, 2019

It could take 300 years for Joshua Tree national park to recover from shutdown

Beautiful Light after December Sunset in Joshua Tree National Park on Scenic Drive towards 29 Palms

It could take Joshua Tree national park 300 years to recover from damage caused by visitors during the US government shutdown, according to the park’s former superintendent.

Park rangers returned to work on Monday after the longest shutdown in history to find damaged trees, graffiti and ruined trails, according to the Guardian.

Curt Sauer, who retired in 2010, said at a rally over the weekend that what happened to the park over the past 34 days will be irreparable for the next 200-300 years.

“While the vast majority of those who visit Joshua Tree do so in a responsible manner, there have been incidents of new roads being created by motorists and the destruction of Joshua trees in recent days that have precipitated the closure,” a park spokesman told the Guardian.

Current Joshua Tree national park superintendent, Davis Smith told National Parks Traveler there was evidence of extensive off-road traffic leading into the wilderness.

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“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,” he said.

“We’ve never seen this level of out-of-bounds camping. Everyday use area was occupied every evening.

“Joshua trees were actually cut down in order to make new roads.”

The government shutdown began on December 22 after President Trump and Congress disagreed over 5.8 billion on funding over the US-Mexico border wall.

It ended on Monday, without the Trump administration securing any money for the wall.

During the shutdown, hundreds of thousands of federal workers went unpaid meaning many national parks were forced to operate without rangers.

Volunteers cleaned toilets and removed trash, but it wasn’t enough to stop the damage.

The local community staged a rally over the weekend calling for the shutdown to end.

“The local community is fed up with our parks being held hostage and the fact that it’s open and partially staffed is not good for the park, it’s not good for the public and it’s not good for the local community here,” John Lauretig, executive director of the nonprofit Friends of Joshua Tree said during the rally.

Lauretig called has called on the government to completely close the park if they plan on shutting down again.

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joshua tree national park shutdown