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posted by martyb on Wednesday January 30 2019, @08:33PM   Printer-friendly
from the blame-it-on-the-guy-with-a-blue-ox? dept.

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.

Joshua Tree National Park.

Related: Cost to Enter National Parks Will More Than Double


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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday January 31 2019, @02:00AM (5 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday January 31 2019, @02:00AM (#794336) Journal

    President Trump claimed responsibility for the shutdown. He really does not need your attempt to defend him (although his name is mentioned ZERO times in TFA).

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  • (Score: 1, Troll) by Phoenix666 on Thursday January 31 2019, @02:56PM (4 children)

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Thursday January 31 2019, @02:56PM (#794538) Journal

    I'm not defending him, but rather saying that blaming him for everything under the sun is childish and tedious. Even if he is not mentioned by name in TFA, the implication is clearly there. It's the current Left's version of a dog whistle. It's not cute; it's not clever; and it's risky because it absolves everyone of responsibility for the act, the vandals, and the people around them who don't restrain or report them.

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    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 31 2019, @07:10PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 31 2019, @07:10PM (#794653)

      So putting the responsibility where it belongs is childish and tedious? Lack of rangers to supervise the park due to a government shutdown 100% owned by Trump is a dog whistle?

      Possibly, now stay with me here, just possibly people see the shitty behavior of the president having consequences in the real world and they are angry about it.

      "Dog-whistle politics is political messaging employing coded language that appears to mean one thing to the general population but has an additional, different, or more specific resonance for a targeted subgroup."

      There is no secrecy needed, no one needs to hide their disdain for Trump or speak covertly about his shitty actions. There are two groups to blame here, the vandals themselves are #1, then the POTUS and his turtle companion.

      • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday February 02 2019, @02:44PM

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Saturday February 02 2019, @02:44PM (#795401) Journal

        The vandalism is the fault of the vandals, not of Trump. When Obama was president and the parks were not shut down, vandals vandalized the parks. When Bush was president and the parks were not shut down, vandals vandalized the parks. Vandals vandalize the parks, rangers or no rangers.

        It seems clear that you have no real grasp of how national parks work, how rangers operate, or how vast the territory is they have to cover. I have seen tourists go off-trail and leave garbage next to prismatic springs 100 yards from Old Faithful lodge, which has about the greatest concentration of rangers and park employees in the national park system. The litterbugs were not caught. The rangers don't stand next to every feature and patrol every length of path because there are far too many features and countless miles of trails. You would have to hire a force of the size of an army to patrol even the most popular areas of that one park.

        So let's just stop with the churlish "Orange Man Bad" nonsense in connection to every event in the world. It's tiresome.

        The vandals committed the crime, so blame them. I hate that they despoil our natural heritage, and hope they are caught and spend decades in jail.

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    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 31 2019, @07:48PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 31 2019, @07:48PM (#794672)

      Even if he is not mentioned by name in TFA, the implication is clearly there.

      The story is about damage caused as a result of the shutdown. It was Trump's shutdown, all 100% of it. "I will be the one to shut it down. I will take the mantle. And I will shut it down for border security." In fact, he was proud to shut it down. Remember how there was a funding agreement ready to go before Christmas, then Coulter made him change his mind and leave McConnell out to dry?

      Of course every shutdown story is going to implicate Trump, you dumbass! He is the reason there was one in the first place.

      • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday February 02 2019, @02:47PM

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Saturday February 02 2019, @02:47PM (#795403) Journal

        No, it does not implicate Trump. The people who vandalized the parks are implicated by the vandalism. They are responsible for the crime.

        They also vandalize all the time, government shutdown or not. There's no delta there.

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