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Reader Participation Day: What Do You Do When You See A Visitor Doing Something Inappropriate In A National Park?

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Dog on the Abrams Creek Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Most parks don't allow dogs on trails, something these hikers in Great Smoky Mountains National Park apparently didn't realize. Photo by Danny Bernstein.

What do you do when you see a visitor doing something inappropriate or illegal in a national park?

This is not a theoretical question, as I struggle with this a lot. I feel that it's different from breaking the rules on the street. National parks, from the largest, most iconic to the smallest historic site, are special places where the rules are there to protect the resources. 

Do you ignore the problem, thinking that maybe rangers will deal with it?

Do you mention it to the visitor?

Do you try to find a ranger?

Does it depend on the problem? Everyone knows not to litter or to carve their initials on an historic cabin. But many visitors claim not to know that dogs are not allowed on trails in many national parks or that they shouldn't pick flowers.

Does your reaction depend on the park you're in? I'm particularly vocal in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway where I think I know the rules well. I'm quieter when I'm away from my home turf. 

Does it depend on other circumstances?

How do you handle the problem?

Comments

I was at the Fountain Paint Pots in Yellowstone a few years ago when this young Asian couple decided that she needed to step off of the boardwalk so that he could take her photo.  I got after them (with lots of gestures -- they obviously did not speak English) until she got back up on the boardwalk, without him having taken her picture.

I know they went home to wherever home was telling stories about that crazy American lady who wouldn't let them take a simple picture, but that's a heck of a lot better than watching her fall through the crust and burn herself to death.

I am just enough whatever-it-is to feel that since they didn't speak English, they had an obligation to search out a copy of the rules and regulations in their own language, and then obey them.  The park service puts them out in several dozen languages in Yellowstone, and there's no excuse not to do that.


As long as they are not my kids....I try to encourage that type of behavior


I was at the Green River Overlook in Canyonlands a few weeks ago, when a German-speaking tourist dropped his cigarette butt and kicked some dirt over it. While I was pondering what to say to him "auf Deutsch," the problem solved itself when he turned around and asked if I'd take a picture of him and his family (all adults). I said in English, in a voice that others could hear: "Only if you pick up your cigarette."

I took the picture, and he complied with my request.

On the way back to our car, my friend heard a woman say to her husband: "I wonder what he did with his cigarette butt?"

(To see the view, click here.)


Good
thought but I still believe that people don't take care of these things
especially if it is not their property

Personally I usually ignore if I see something like this in a public
place

But I would like to improve the habit
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honeymoon in the Bahamas


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