- Banned
- #1
Garbage, feces take toll on national parks amid shutdown | Daily Mail Online
Human feces, overflowing garbage, illegal off-roading and other damaging behavior in fragile areas are beginning to overwhelm some of the West's iconic national parks, as a partial government shutdown left the areas open to visitors but with little staff on duty.
'It's a free-for-all,' Dakota Snider, 24, who lives and works in Yosemite Valley in California, said on Monday, as Yosemite National Park officials announced closings of some minimally supervised campgrounds and public areas within the park that are overwhelmed.
'It's so heartbreaking. There is more trash and human waste and disregard for the rules than I've seen in my four years living here,' Snider said.
Unlike shutdowns in some previous administrations, the Trump administration was leaving parks open to visitors despite the staff furloughs, John Garder, senior budget director of the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association, said.
We're afraid that we're going to start seeing significant damage to the natural resources in parks and potentially to historic and other cultural artifacts,' Garder said.
'We're concerned there'll be impacts to visitors' safety. It's really a nightmare scenario.'
But the short term optics were good and that's the only thing Trump has ever cared about other than himself and money
Human feces, overflowing garbage, illegal off-roading and other damaging behavior in fragile areas are beginning to overwhelm some of the West's iconic national parks, as a partial government shutdown left the areas open to visitors but with little staff on duty.
'It's a free-for-all,' Dakota Snider, 24, who lives and works in Yosemite Valley in California, said on Monday, as Yosemite National Park officials announced closings of some minimally supervised campgrounds and public areas within the park that are overwhelmed.
'It's so heartbreaking. There is more trash and human waste and disregard for the rules than I've seen in my four years living here,' Snider said.
Unlike shutdowns in some previous administrations, the Trump administration was leaving parks open to visitors despite the staff furloughs, John Garder, senior budget director of the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association, said.
We're afraid that we're going to start seeing significant damage to the natural resources in parks and potentially to historic and other cultural artifacts,' Garder said.
'We're concerned there'll be impacts to visitors' safety. It's really a nightmare scenario.'
But the short term optics were good and that's the only thing Trump has ever cared about other than himself and money
