Garbage, feces take toll on national parks amid shutdown
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Human feces, overflowing garbage, illegal off-roading and other damaging behavior in fragile areas were 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, said by telephone 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.
The partial federal government shutdown, now into its 11th day, has forced furloughs of hundreds of thousands of federal government employees. This has left many parks without most of the rangers and others who staff campgrounds and otherwise keep parks running.
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As someone who has visited Yosemite many times, this really pisses me off.
Now sad that people (using the term loosely) can destroy one of Americans great treasures.
Fucking morons would be an upgrade for them.
I have backpacked there and we didn't leave so much as a match stick behind.
Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints.
I've packed out other peoples trash many a time. I camped just outside of the park on the Early Intake trail for years. Only Tuolumne Meadows walk in camps are 'primitive' enough for my taste.
And fish, you forgot fish...
This is why we can’t have nice things.....WTF.
I tend to go full Griswold on my own property for Christmas, but I just can’t understand this.....at all.
And it's all happening because Democrats can't stand to see Trump get something he wants, even if they advocated for it themselves just a few years ago.
More FENCE means WALL bullshit.