- Hikers found graffiti spray-painted on red rocks in Arches National Park last week.
- Park visitors also reported seeing people walking dogs and toilet paper strewn around the Devils Garden Trail.
- Former and current park service workers have expressed concern about parks being open during the government shutdown.
Visitors to Arches National Park found the popular Devils Garden Trail vandalized with white spray-painted images of smiley faces, doodles and several iterations of what appears to be the word “GRUG” on the red rock.
Allyson Mathis, a retired National Park Service employee, found the defaced landscape while hiking with a friend last week. And that’s not all she encountered.
Speaking with a reporter from Outside, she described seeing a dog walking with other visitors — pets are not permitted on trails in Arches — and toilet paper strewn about the desert. That was in addition to the scale of the spray-paint defacement.
“It was everywhere,” Mathis said. “It was heartbreaking and upsetting, but unfortunately not surprising.”
The Department of the Interior confirmed what Mathis found.
“We can confirm that vandalism was discovered this past weekend inside Arches National Park, near Landscape Arch in the Devils Garden area,” according to a statement from the Interior Department. “The incident remains under investigation by the National Park Service. We have no other comment at this time.”
Impact of Park Service staffing cuts
The reason Mathis was not too surprised is because the National Park Service has kept parks open despite the ongoing government shutdown, now in its 41st day and the longest in American history.
The service furloughed approximately 9,296 of its 14,500 employees once the government closed, with the remaining 5,000 plus workers deemed essential, and employed to execute “excepted activities.” Those include law enforcement, border and coastal surveillance, public health efforts related to waterways and food services and facility protections.
While those essential tasks are being taken care of, with fewer rangers working, the parks are not able to offer a full complement of visitor services. Also, they are less capable of protecting people from or responding to incidents or injuries.
The Arches graffiti also makes clear that it’s much harder to protect the landscapes with less staffing.
“As long as they remain open and unstaffed, our national parks — America’s best idea — are in danger. And so too are all the people who visit them. As iconic landscapes burn and campgrounds and trails are littered with trash or human waste, (Interior) Secretary (Doug) Burgum cannot sit idly by,“ Emily Thompson, executive director of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, said in a statement last month.
“When park rangers can’t do their jobs, he needs to do his: Protect our parks and close them immediately. And when this shutdown is finally over, help the National Park Service fulfill its mission by fully staffing and fully funding our parks to sustain them for generations to come.”
How are national parks doing?
National Park Service employees have had a challenging year. In the first quarter, the agency weathered layoffs of thousands of employees and probationary staff as a result of efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency.
Following that, national parks struggled through the summer high seasons with — as of last estimate — 24% fewer employees than the year prior. Just last month, too, the Interior Department submitted documents to a federal court in California that described further layoffs among its unionized employees.
That has occurred under a Burgum secretarial order instructing national parks to prioritize guest facing services above all others. Those other mandates include conservation, habitat management and archaeological efforts.
The coalition that Thompson directs is made up of thousands of former, current and retired national park employees and it has been outspoken about how staffing cuts and the shutdown have affected the parks and park employees.
The organization has written several letters to the Interior Department urging it to fully close the parks during the shutdown.
One of the letters, signed by 40 former park leaders, including a former park service director, was submitted in the days prior to the shutdown when it was clear there was no avoiding it.
“Americans across the country and across the political spectrum cherish our national parks and public lands,” they wrote.
“As stewards of these American treasures, we urge you to prioritize both conservation and visitor safety and protect our national parks during a potential shutdown, and into the future. If sufficient staff aren’t there, visitors shouldn’t be either.”