American national parks vandalized, ruined by visitors, could take centuries to remedy: report

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In recent years, America's national parks have wrestled with unruly visitors and vandals who ignore rules meant to keep plants and wildlife safe, according to media reports. 

The damage could have impacts on the ecosystem of the parks for centuries, the New York Post reported.  

The newspaper cited examples at three beloved parks that have seen changes with dire consequences. In Southern California, many visitors explored Joshua Tree National Park during the 2019 government shutdown. 

Instead of basking at the park's desert ecosystem, visitors left graffiti and ruined trails.

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Three tourists from Germany used paintball guns and slingshots to vandalize signs at Joshua Tree National Park. National parks have dealt with vandalism and rule-breakers in recent years.  (National Park Services)

"What’s happened to our park in the last 34 days is irreparable for the next 200 to 300 years," former park superintendent Curt Sauer told The Guardian at the time.

"There are about a dozen instances of extensive vehicle traffic off roads and, in some cases, into wilderness," said David Smith, the park’s superintendent at the time. "We have two new roads that were created inside the park. We had destruction of government property with the cutting of chains and locks for people to access campgrounds."

In August, three tourists from Germany were cited after going on a paintball shooting rampage that defaced road signs, bathrooms and dumpsters at the park. Park rangers said at least 11 roadway signs along Park Boulevard from Jumbo Rocks campground to the Maze Loop Trailhead, two miles from the west entrance of the park, had been shot with yellow paintballs.

"We’ve never seen this level of out-of-bounds camping," he added. "Joshua trees were actually cut down in order to make new roads."

The Custer Gallatin National Forest in Montana.  (National Park Service)

At the 3 million-acre Custer Gallatin National Forest, which stretches from South Dakota to the town of West Yellowstone, Montana, forest service workers saw increasing amounts of unburied poop on popular trails and in unofficial campsites, the news outlet reported.

The discoveries violate the park's "Leave no trace" rule, which asks visitors to bury poop so deep that a woodland creature can't dig it up.

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Vandalism at Yosemite National Park. Some parks have dealt with unruly visitors in recent years, authorities said.  (National Park Service)

"They pick up all garbage, whether it’s toilet paper or diapers or beer bottles," Oswald told the outlet of the cleanups. "And generally, if they come upon human waste, they try to deal with it by burying it at an appropriate depth."

In 2022, the National Park Service took to social media to reveal trail blocks at Yosemite National Park in California had been defaced with graffiti.

In Nevada, vandals toppled natural rock formations along a Lake Mead trail at the Redstone Dunes Trail at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, the National Park Service said.

Authorities are looking for two vandalism suspects accused of toppling natural rock formations along a Lake Mead trail. (National Parks Service)

The Gettysburg National Park saw two vandalism incidents within a week in August. On Aug. 15, park officials reported that multiple boulders had been defaced with graffiti inscribed onto the faces of large stones on Little Round Top, the NPS said.

The second incident took place on Aug. 19, when visitors to the historic site reported that graffiti had been spray-painted on the historic War Department Observation Tower.

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"We were fearful that the graffiti carved into the rock may be there for future generations," Kristina Heister, park superintendent, said at the time. "I’m so very thankful for our amazing preservation staff, who expertly restored these sites quickly so visitors could continue to experience them as they were intended."

"They truly are the heroes of this hallowed ground," she added. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the National Park Service.