What should National Park Service rangers do when they come across a visitor who has gone astray of park regulations? For instance, should they have cited those women in Glacier National Park who squeezed off a round from a .357 to scare a deer, or was the "education" enough?
And what about visitors in Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Yosemite, Great Smoky Mountains, or any other park with bears who leave their food available for bears? After all, as they say, a fed bear is a dead bear.
What do you think? How strict should rangers be? Do some rules infractions merit stronger action than others? Should the Yellowstone visitors who ignore the "do not swim" signs be cited as quickly as those found guilty of leaving a messy camp that helps bears associate humans with food?
Comments
When the National Parks rules are broken, the offenders should be fined !!! The fines should stay in that National Park and help pay for more rangers.
Most people in todays' world do not have common sense, hit them where it hurts and maybe they will learn. Or else, they can vacation in Disney World and leave our National Parks to be enjoyed by folks who respect them and want them protected.
By nature I am a rule follower and have a strong sense of justice when others deem themselves above the laws that apply to the rest of us!! I WOULD NOT make a good park Ranger because I would in all liklihood be sarcastic with law breakers! I have seen visitors walking across thermal areas at Yellowstone where it is clearly marked with the universal hiking bootprint with the slash through it. I have seen visitors climb over fences in Yosemite to stand next to the giant Sequoia trees, those clearlly marked as well, prohibiting such behavior. In these instances these were European visitors but the signs are very obvious and easily understandable regardless of what language they speak!! How would they like it if I went into one of their moldy castles, slipped under the velvet rope and jumped up and down on the furniture? There is NO difference!!
I will say this, after watching Ken Burns' magnificent special on our National Parks and the struggle our country went through to preserve these places, I will be even MORE outspoken in the future!!
I remember meeting up with a family of three backpacking in the Yosemite high country. They noted that they were visiting their daughter, who was a seasonal ranger during her summer vacation from college. They also noted that she was a stickler for rules and was eager to give out citations.
As for Europeans, it's been my universal experience that almost all European visitors to the US speak very good (or at least passable) English. It's not much different than the huge universally understood no-smoking signs that get ignored in various countries I've visited.
As for climbing over fences to see giant sequoias - I know it happens. However - there are areas where it is legal to go off trail and stand next to giant sequoias. These are typically not close to roads or parking lots, where the NPS or Forest Service has determined that there won't be so much visitation that the impacts will be spread out. If there were no fences, the ground around such famous trees as the Grizzly Giant, General Sherman, or General Grant would probably be heavily packed by hundreds of visitors a day. However - a remote sequoia grove can take maybe an average of less than one visitor per day walking next to its trunk.
@ Connie,
I'm the same way. I've had a hard time trying to ease up on visitors and try educating them first. Today I had a woman out with her family picking flowers and I had to tell her that it isn't allowed and explained why. She was pretty agreeable, but I've had people argue with me and at that point my sarcasm comes out. I've already been told by my LE friends that I can't be law enforcement because I would just write up people for being stupid. I don't see the downside to that.
As a former protection ranger, often now called law enforcement rangers, I always opted for the lowest level of law enforcement activity that would produce the desired result, i.e. compliance with the regulation or rule. If my contact with the visitor convinced me that he/she was truly sorry for the infraction and that it was highly unlikely that he/she would repeat the infraction, I normally issued a verbal or written warning. If, however, my contact with the visitor did not so convince me, then I would issue a citation, or in some cases, make an arrest. What the NPS is interested in is that visitors have a safe, enjoyable visit in their parks while assuring that the natural and cultural resources are protected and that the activities of some do not interfere with others visitor's safety and enjoyment or damage resources.
Rick
The incident I referred to in my earlier response was actually with Grizzly Giant tree. My husband was up at the overlook preparing to take my picture while I was down by the tree. The Father had his family climb over the fence to stand against the tree. I politely told them that the signs showed that wasn't allowed and the father began arguing with me. I told him,
"The Park Ranger is right over there, why don't you ask him if it's allowed?"
With that, my husband who could tell that the guy was arguing with me yelled out,
"HEY!"
The next thing you know he and his family scooted off, probably thinking that it was the Ranger yelling at them. All I know is from that time forward, my husband's new nickname has been "The Lorax".
There are also places in Yellowstone's back country where you can get close to the thermal features for lack of boardwalks. Hopefully common sense prevails and people are sensitive to their surroundings. Unfortunately some people really ARE stupid and some people really do believe that the rules apply to others and not themselves. If that weren't the case people wouldn't be gored by elk and bison or literally go out on a limb to take a photo and fall down into the Grand Canyon! All it takes is for one thoughtless person to ruin in a moment, something that has taken centuries or a millinia to create!
I think park regulations should be strictly and uniformly enforced by citation, with the amount depending on the severity of the infraction. When people are pretty certain that their ignoring of park rules will result in a fine, they will exhibit much better behavior. My wife and I have visited 10 national parks in less than a year, and we have seen many instances of stupid and inconsiderate behavior, some of which really diminished our enjoyment of the park experience, and unfortunately we did not see one instance of anyone being cited. It seems that some people's worst behavior is brought out by wildlife, and most of the instances I am speaking of involve people parking or stopping in the middle of the road to take pictures of wildlife near the road, but also involve people crowding much too near wildlife in spite of the distance rules. These situations all result in some danger to the people in the vicinity, and in some cases result in harassment of the animals as well. We also witnessed someone "bugling" a bull elk, and I'm sure this idiot wouldn't have hesitated to offer food as well if he thought he could entice the animal closer to get a better picture. Again, no one was around to enforce the rules. Worst behavior we saw was in Rocky Mountain NP and Yellowstone. I know manpower is a problem and enforcement is bound to be challenging in a place as large as Yellowstone, but these situations are just going to get worse as the number of visitors increase. I saw signs saying speed limits are strictly enforced, but nothing about enforcement of the common sense regulation not to park or stop in the middle of the road just to take a picture! We need consistent enforcement of ALL regulations!