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Joshua Tree national park 'may take 300 years to recover' from shutdown
The former superintendent of Joshua Tree national park has said it could take hundreds of years to recover from damage caused by visitors during the longest-ever government shutdown.
"What's happened to our park in the last 34 days is irreparable for the next 200 to 300 years," Curt Sauer said at a rally over the weekend, according to a report from the Desert Sun. Sauer retired in 2010 after running the park for seven years.
The park reopened Monday after the record 35-day shutdown, and park workers returned to a state of chaos, including damaged trees, graffiti and ruined trails. The reduced ranger supervision during the shutdown saw increased vandalism at the park, causing officials to announce on 8 January that Joshua Tree would temporarily close. It was announced a day later that officials were able to use recreation fee revenue to avoid the closure.
"While the vast majority of those who visit Joshua Tree do so in a responsible manner, there have been incidents of new roads being created by motorists and the destruction of Joshua trees in recent days that have precipitated the closure," said park spokesman George Land in the news release.
Related: Cost to Enter National Parks Will More Than Double
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday January 30 2019, @10:03PM (16 children)
When the cops are away, the criminals and vandals play. Happened in Iraq when the US disdained the use of the established police forces, which led to rampant anarchy and looting.
All the more ironic (and, yes, stupid) that this happened in the name of security.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 30 2019, @10:12PM (11 children)
What I do not understand is why there are people that specifically felt the need to drive out into the middle of the desert and cause such harm.
Is there some sort of satisfaction they got out of it? What sort of gain could this have provided? They didn't even seem to take branches to make cuttings or otherwise 'poach' the native flora. They were simply destructive, in a worse way than just leaving junk around.
It's like some people that were sick of rules finally had an opportunity to stick it to the man by doing whatever they wanted, for free, without worrying about being caught, because being a steward of the earth is for sissies.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by MostCynical on Wednesday January 30 2019, @11:09PM
Cretins be cretins.
Unwatched cretins be worse
"Human" doesn't mean nice or thoughtful.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Thursday January 31 2019, @12:17AM (6 children)
Yeah, that's the thing. Takes a lot of gas, time, and money to take a 4-wheeler off-roading. It's one of those stupid expensive kinds of hobbies, like boating (stands for Break Out Another Thousand dollars) that only the wealthy and privileged can afford.
Presumably the vehicles were not stolen, it was the owners who did it. I'm guessing the most likely perps are teenage sons of the owners. Rich kids with too much idle time and money on their hands, who can get away with manslaughter with the help of an expensive lawyer to argue that they are actually victims of "affluenza".
Many years ago, as we were approaching a steep hill beside the road, we saw a jeep climbing it. Then the driver made a rookie mistake. Screwed up and turned the jeep too soon, just before reaching the top. It rolled sideways, over and over, all the way down the hill. We came up and stopped at about the same time the jeep stopped, upside-down. Saw the gas cap pop off and gas pour out. Then we saw two boys quickly crawl out the window. They sat down on the hill above the jeep, and the older one picked up some ring shaped piece of metal that'd come loose and threw it at the jeep. That was in a way a relief to see-- if they could indulge in a sulk, presumably no one was hurt or still trapped inside. Couldn't tell, but might not have been old enough to drive. May have been trespassing too, but I suppose their parents could have owned that land.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday January 31 2019, @02:26AM (5 children)
Don't write off adults too quickly. There was a recent story about some jackass who encouraged boys under his leadership to topple rocks that were finely balanced since before Methuselah was a pup. Idiots don't magically stop being idiots at age xx.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/10/18/237103122/scout-leaders-who-toppled-ancient-rock-may-face-charges [npr.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 31 2019, @03:06AM (1 child)
I was a trouble maker as a kid. Moved out of my parents' insane asylum at 16 and never did anything bad again.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday January 31 2019, @04:12AM
Fair enough - some of us grow up. Hell, I did things as a kid that would be embarrassing, or even criminal, today, as an adult.
We don't all grow up though.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday January 31 2019, @10:25AM (2 children)
If you look at the story -- or the video -- it wasn't the boy. It was his father. Doing a good deed -- protecting folks from that dangerous rock. Living his life the scouting way. Thank you Glenn! You should take great pride in the example you set for every citizen of our Country to follow.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday January 31 2019, @02:18PM (1 child)
As a former Scouter - that bit of ignorance just pisses me off. It would take an extreme moron to believe the story that the asshole was concerned about somebody's safety.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday January 31 2019, @04:06PM
I dunno, it meets the helicopter parent / entitled brat criteria that seems to be quite pervasive.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 31 2019, @03:36AM (2 children)
The same mentality that you see by the far right who believe everything is theirs, and theirs alone. That they should be able to do whatever they please without regard for others. "If you believe in freedom, you must agree that it is my right to dump toxic waste in that river. And, the millions of people that get their drinking water from that river are free to move someplace else." These right-wing assholes are to blame for the conditions that allowed the destruction of the park to happen, and are almost certainly the ones who caused the damage. Right wing Nazi fuckers rolling coal and tearing up the park-- because "freedom".
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday January 31 2019, @02:17PM
Yeah, because every small business owner, every plant manager, every CEO, every shift manager in America who might want to dispose of some hazardous waste, is a Republican. Got it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 31 2019, @06:24PM
So you're saying that it isn't a coincidence that the guy in the video looks a lot like Larry the Cable Guy?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by driverless on Thursday January 31 2019, @01:11AM (3 children)
The scary thing about this one was that exactly the same thing had happened 50 years earlier at the end of WWII in Germany. The US shut down the German police/law enforcement and the scum of Europe poured into the country (if they weren't already there) to loot, pillage, and rape. Given that there'd recently been a war on, even the occupying troops were sometimes outgunned and outfought by the brigands, until they finally put a lid on it after a few months. You'd think someone would have looked at the history books and said "yeah, that wasn't handled so well the last time, let's do it differently this time".
(Score: 2) by ilsa on Thursday January 31 2019, @06:22PM
People who don't read history are doomed to repeat it.
People who do read history are doomed to watch everyone else repeat it.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Friday February 01 2019, @02:49PM (1 child)
> at the end of WWII in Germany
It isn't really the same. The Russian army was out for revenge following depradations of the invading Germans and were particularly foul, though the Western army was not without sin. Thousands died in the terrible winter of 1944/5 fleeing the incoming Russian army. The German army moved West in 1945 so that when they (inevitably) surrendered, they would surrender to the Western powers.
Random wikipedia articles:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_during_the_occupation_of_Germany [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evacuation_of_East_Prussia [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by driverless on Friday February 01 2019, @11:53PM
I wasn't referring to the Russians (that's another story entirely), I was referring to what happened in the Allied zone of occupation. The rape and pillage wasn't done by the occupying troops (well, there were a few rare cases, e.g. French colonial troops) but by people from other nations.