From Instagrammers seeking that killer photo and drone pilots who flout NPS regulations to dance parties in Zion Narrows, there appears to be a new breed of national park visitor looking for something other than the more traditional national park experience/Kurt Repanshek
How should we act in a national park? That might seem to carry an obvious answer, but it's not always so obvious these days.
As different generations, different racial groups, and different cultures enter the National Park System, not everyone seems to be there to enjoy the natural beauty on display in the landscape parks, content merely to walk about, gaze at the setting, hike or backpack, paddle or climb, or watch wildlife.
The parks are backdrops for enjoyment, that's for sure, but some visitors don't understand that barriers are there to preserve the landscapes and protect visitors...sometimes from each other.
"We have 15 miles of paved trail in Zion Canyon itself, and we're tracking 30 miles of social trails that we're trying to rehab," Zion National Park Superintendent Jeff Bradybaugh said recently. "But people keep tromping on them."
"Anywhere where people may park ... they make beelines to things they want to see, as opposed to taking a developed trail," he continued, while discussing both crowding in his park and the behavior of some visitors. "And, of course, we have the usual things, switchbacks; just the sheer volume of people. It's outstripping our ability to cope with it. Graffiti, and lots more graffiti than we’ve ever seen before, and just a different behavior in our visitors."
"It just may be the sheer volume, but more vandalism, I think kind of a lack of understanding what the park experience is about. For example, hauling 'boom boxes' well up into the (Zion) Narrows for a dance party. And so part of it is obviously we need to educate the visitors, but we’re beyond capacity, I think it’s safe to say.”
"We’re just seeing a different understanding of what the park is about. How to visit. I think some of that is education. We’re kind of overwhelmed.” -- Jeff Bradybaugh, Zion National Park Superintendent
More than a year ago a woman from New York City envisioned the Western parks as palettes, and used acrylic paints to brush images onto boulders and cliff walls in parks such as Zion, Crater Lake National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Yosemite National Park, Death Valley National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, Colorado National Monument, and Canyonlands National Park. Her nom de plume was "Creepytings." (Traveler note: There still has been no resolution of this case.)
Grafitti has been a problem at Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee, and at Jockey Hollow in Morristown National Historical Park in New Jersey, as well as at Gateway National Recreation Area in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area.
Other issues, which may be "not entirely appropriate behavior" in the parks, include mass Rim-to-Rim hiking groups at Grand Canyon National Park. And then there was the case of an editor for Road & Track magazine who took advantage of the park system's closure in October 2013 to ride a 250cc dirt bike through Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and later wrote an article boasting about it.
And then there's the drone problem. While the National Park Service long ago banned drone launches or landings in the parks, people continue to ignore it. Just last week a drone operator was cited for flying his craft too close to the Washington Monument. That marked the 10th time this year alone that a drone operator was cited in the National Capital Region.
People may also arrive in the parks with Instagrams on their minds, and not for a healthly retreat into nature.
Back in October 2014 Trevor M. Lee pleaded guilty in connection with nine counts, ranging from camping outside of designated areas to lighting a campfire when fires were banned due to high fire danger, according to court documents. The man also boasted of climbing a giant sequoia tree in Yosemite National Park's Tuolumne Grove (an illegal activity) at a time when the grove was closed to the public due to the Rim Fire.
His mission? Apparently to snap photos of his behavior and post it to his Instagram account. Along one of the images he wrote, "We didn't just hike to the top of Half Dome during the gov't shutdown, we camped on top of it too!"
Half Dome and the Sub-Dome area are closed to camping, whether the parks are closed or open for business.
The case against Mr. Lee arose in December 2013, when a park ranger learned of Mr. Lee's Instagram feed via an article that explored his behavior in Yosemite.
"The site described and displayed LEE engaged in numerous activities prohibited or restricted in Yosemite National Park. The article was prominently displayed on the website and had over 400,000 'likes' from other users of the lnstagram site," the investigator's report noted.
In the end, Mr. Lee reached an agreement with the government that allowed him to plead guilty to five of the counts and pay a $1,500 fine spread over 11 months.
The issue of parks being used as Instagram backdrops was visited recently by New York Magazine, which ran a story about "The flood of 'Instagram hikers' — the sorts of people who see a pretty photo on Instagram and want to go take their own picture in that spot — isn’t just inconvenient, it’s potentially damaging. And, as people who regard bears as a lot more than funny opportunities for selfies will tell you, dangerous, too."
Don't think so?
“In Yellowstone, about a month ago, there was a grizzly bear feeding on an elk carcass. And a guy went almost right up to this grizzly bear to take a picture. And so literally they had to station a park ranger 100 yards away from this grizzly bear as long as it was there, which was for several days, to keep people [away], because otherwise people would keep going up to a GRIZZLY BEAR that's in the wild eating an animal, to take a picture. I mean, they're going with kids and things like that!" National Park Service spokeswoman Kathy Kupper told the writer.
To be sure, the National Park Service understands the Instagram craze, and is busy feeding dozens if not hundreds of Instagram channels itself. But as the agency strives to attract new visitors, there are new generations with different ideas of how to appreciate the outdoors. For instance, Baby Boomers may wander from what is appropriate behavior, and new visitor's behavior will continue to evolve.
“I think one of the things that will be interesting to see in the next century of service is, as we talk about Find Your Park, I think what we consider to be traditional park experiences I’m thinking are going to transform," said Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Cassius Cash. "Our concern is to make sure that people connect with the natural world, and I think once people get out to do just that, what’s going to be interesting is to see how they enjoy it once they get out there."
“We had an interesting conversation with staff, because a lot of trails are crowded with folks and you hear a lot of people and you see a lot of people, and one of the staff members said, 'Well, that’s not a good park experience.' And I threw a, 'Why do you say that?' And he said, 'Because it’s not quiet and it's not solitude.' And I said it depends on what you define as peaceful and solitude, not hearing horns being blown, or helicopters or airplanes," the superintendent recounted. "It’s all relative, and so I think we have to give the next generation of users and supporters space for them to define what is the park experience for them, because I think it’s going to change. And I think like anything else we have to change with it."
Comments
Miles of signs along the highways leading to parks would take us back to the forest of Stop At Wall Drug signs that used to infest highways leading toward Wall, South Dakota and the famous (infamous?)Burma Shave signs.
How about a TV and radio public service ad campaign?
I dunno, Lee, I kinda like the road sign suggestion. Growing up and going on family vacations to Florida I recall seeing "South of the Border" signs from Virginia down into South Carolina to lead folks to that roadside attraction. That place was well ingrained in my young mind miles and miles before we saw it.
A nationwide campaign of that sort, with messages that not only promote the national parks but gently outline how to enjoy them, might have more lasting impact than commercials or PSAs on media that younger generations aren't paying attention to.
My supervisor in Yosemite used to get apoplexy at my talks. On the other hand, she absolutely loved them, and stuck by me all the way. She knew somebody had to say it--this is a national park.
It takes all manner of saying it to get the message across. That said, there is nothing more important than having "boots on the ground." The ranger, in that splendid uniform, makes all the difference in the world. I remember the woman who told me how much she loved her mobile home--all 48 feet of it in Lower Pines. "Really," I replied. "So, you like cleaning house instead of going on vacation?" With that her jaw dropped a mile. "Not that mobile homes are bad in themselves," I added, "but recall that Yosemite gets no vacation, either. All the Park Service does now is keep cleaning house."
Did it change her mind? Or her husband's? I don't know. But I do know that when another mobile-home owner complained that his TV reception was very poor, I was extra blunt. "If you came here just to watch television, you should have stayed home in Los Angeles."
As a seasonal, I would risk it. And not a few of my other companions risked it, too. Many went on to distinguishd Park Service careers. It is no wonder that the concessionaire (MCA) was always trying to rein us in. But that's what it takes. Setting a standard and sticking by it. How do you manage a national park? You manage it as a national park. There, EC is painfully right. So complete has been our retreat from social standards in this country we are not allowed to ask people a thing--or dare tell them what is proper behavior, whether at work, at school, or play.
We don't lack for enough signs; we don't lack for enough social media. What we lack is standards. If as a teacher I cannot tell you to turn your smart phone off in class, how I can tell you how to behave inside a national park?
We pass laws; we make rules; but we don't believe in them anymore. Look at all the people driving around still texting. Washington State is filled with signs warning against that.
No, it is going to take a lot more soul-searching to figure out what it is we need. But yes, I would start with more young people--thousands more--interpreting our national parks to the visiting public. Somehow, it never seems to fail. The parks just get under your skin. My colleagues and I figured it out, each in his or her own way. Yosemite Valley was a good place in the early 1980s--and still is when there are rangers to meet carrying good words and a sense of conscience.
Do younger generations pay attention to anything that isn't exploding or using some spectacular special effect every second? Maybe what's really needed is a production like Star Wars or one of the Stupor Heroes movies. (And, yes, the t in that word is intentional.)
Hmmmm, flaming billboards shooting streams of fireworks into the sky just might do the job.
I remember Wall Drug and never ever have nor ever will stop there for any reason. Their advertising didn't work very well with me.
Alfred just said very eloquently what I've been trying to say.
Can we get our lawmakers to increase funding to the NPS and NFS? The parks and forests can't afford the personnel, technology, educational materials, etc. that it needs. We can't expect them to oversee, educate, or train the public without the funds to do so. Funding has been consistently cut for the last 20 years with no real allowance made for the increased use. We have lawmakers wanting to further cut funding and/or utilize more privatization of the facilities in national parks. When you have concessionares concerned with their bottom dollar, how can you expect them to be willing to work toward educating against negative behavior/attitudes of their customers?
What part of Leave No Trace does this generation not understand?
What does race and culture have to do with vandalism? And rudeness?
If you take a boom box to the wilderness you don't disturb your neighbors they are visiting for the peace and quite or they are the wild animals that were there first that you came to visit.
Using the National Parks for your own Canvas is a major problem if you don't leave it in disturbed!!!
Endangering the lives of children for a photo is child endangerment and a crime a Federal Crime in our National Parks.
I think the National Parks need two separate marketing campaigns. One that sells fun in the parks that belongs to every American. And a second plan that has two parts one that teaches the children and adults to respect and protect the parks Leave No Trace and Smokey the Bear how to prevent Forest Fires and a severe ranger arresting stupid people for graffiti, art,camping, noise violations, hanging to close to Wild animals and endangering children in a wilderness situation that could have been and should have been avoided.
I just received my copy of the Yellowstone Association's summer program catalog. One offering in particular caught my attention. On page 21 we find "Between A Rock And A Hard Place: Facing Geolorical Challenges In Yellowstone." A three-day program July 12 - 14 examining management challenges at Yellowstone. Cost $360. I think I'll sign up and would be delighted to meet some other Traveler readers there.
Another thought hit as I was perusing the catalog. How about handing parents a companion booklet to accompany Junior Ranger books given to children? Some education aimed at helping parents understand how they may help ensure that these parks will still be here -- unimpaired -- for the children of their children. Perhaps we need to give parents a patch showing that they became Senior Rangers as their children became Junior Rangers.
Much of the problem as I see it stems from the fact that each generation of humans, not only in America but worldwide, inherits an environment that is a bit more degraded than that of the previous generation. But because we didn't know what the world was like before our time in it, we accept it without question as being "normal." And when some lawmakers seek to repeal environmental protections won by previous generations, younger citizens lack the memory of what the air and water were like before the days of the Clean Air and Water Acts, EPA, and other protections some people seek now to destroy. Too bad we can't find some way to transport our children back in time to witness for themselves the days when rivers were fire hazards and air in some cities was thick with coal smoke and dust from steel mills.
Few Americans realize that when we see pictures of putrid air in China or fouled water in India today that not too many years ago those pictures could have come from Pittsburgh or Erie or Youngstown or any of a number of other American industrial cities.
The story of degradation of our parks is tragically similar.