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Community pulls together to support Joshua Tree National Park during shutdown


Community volunteers, Carl and Susan Parmley, take a quick break from cleaning and restocking vault toilets in Joshua Tree National Park. The Parmleys, along with their 14 year-old son, Aidan, spent the day after New Year's helping clean the park, despite frigid temperatures.

Former Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke has responded to reports of overflowing trash bins and toilets in America's national parks during the current partial federal government shutdown, by saying visitors should "grab a trash bag and take some trash out." In Joshua Tree National Park, dedicated volunteers from the community are, unsurprisingly, a few steps ahead of Zinke.

On January 2, I headed into Joshua Tree National Park to get a firsthand look at how the park has fared during the nearly two-week long shutdown. Knowing how the park has struggled with the doubling of the number of annual visitors during the past few years to three million or more, even with full visitor services and staffing, I braced myself for the worst.

It's been heartbreaking to see the park experience ongoing, and increasing, vandalism from misguided artists and Instagram influencers, to outdoor companies and artifact thieves. Even under normal operational conditions park staff are clearly struggling with how best to manage the millions of people who have "discovered" Joshua Tree. I've seen everything from a human turd in the middle of a trail, literally five minutes from park restrooms, and people three miles down a trail letting their dogs run free (dogs are not allowed on park trails), to motorcycles off-roading through the park (again, not allowed), and the removal of historic artifacts like the Bagley Stone (now broken), in order to prevent their theft.

The 2013 federal government shutdown saw the entire closure of Joshua Tree National Park.

During the 2013 federal government shutdown over the repeal of Obamacare, the gates at Joshua Tree National Park were locked. I was at the gate as international visitors who had come to see our beautiful desert park gazed at the locked gates in disbelief. Local businesses suffered and employees saw their hours cut as tourists went elsewhere. Our main destination was not accessible. But it was fairly well protected.

Now, the gates were wide open, though there weren't any rangers manning the entry booth. A steady line of cars snaked up the road to the gate ahead of me. One stopped and looked for a park map at the booth. There were none. He drove on.

Cars crowded into parking areas, with numerous vehicles parked on the shoulder. While there weren't any that I saw that were driven off into the desert, there have been reports of people off-roading and damaging the desert within the park during the shutdown.

I pulled into Hidden Valley's day use area, and was greeted by the sight of a pickup truck filled with toilet paper and cleaning supplies in the parking lot. A group of volunteers, including Carl and Susan Parmley, had just finished cleaning and restocking the vault toilets at the upper end of the parking lot. Their 14 year-old son, Aidan, was off picking up windblown trash from the desert near the picnic area.

There are similar groups to be found around the park, led by groups like Cliffhangers Guides, a climbing guide company based here, and Friends of Joshua Tree National Park, a nonprofit organization that supports climbing in the park. Coyote Corner, Nomad Ventures, and Joshua Tree Outfitters, three local businesses in Joshua Tree, were also pitching in to support cleanup efforts.

And it wasn't just the community in Joshua Tree getting involved. Visit 29 Palms, the tourism agency for the city, the City of Twentynine Palms, and the 29 Palms Chamber of Commerce led a volunteer group into the park on New Year's Day to help clean and restock bathrooms in the park. Within four hours the group had hauled out more than 40 bags of trash, glass, and recycling, while cleaning and restocking the bathrooms.

Breanne Dusastre, the new director of marketing and tourism development for the City of Twentynine Palms, led the New Year's Day cleanup.

"It was so great to see the turnout today in 29 Palms, and I am thrilled by how much ground we were able to cover in the park today," Dusastre said. "It has been inspiring to see the cleanup efforts and stewardship initiatives from the community, and we felt like today was our turn to roll up our sleeves and help out."

Supplies for their effort were provided by the 29 Palms Tourism Business Improvement District, Harmony Motel, the 29 Palms Inn, and Broadview Hacienda vacation rentals, as well as by Friends of Joshua Tree.

It is estimated that two to three hundred volunteers have pitched in during the shutdown to help with everything from visitor information (there was a nice outdoor visitor information booth outside of Coyote Corner this week, while the official visitor center for the park was closed), to scrubbing toilets. Thousands of dollars have been donated by individuals, businesses, and organizations in support of caring for "our" park.

Prom dresses and champagne bottles have been found dumped in the park, with reports of one group of visitors loading a fallen Joshua tree log into their vehicle, some illegal camping, loose dogs, and threats to volunteers trying to impart stewardship information to visitors. Christmas tree lights were reportedly strung on at least one Joshua tree near a campground. With campgrounds closed as of Wednesday, January 2, many of these issues may be addressed as the park is now essentially day use only.

"The park is being forced to take this action for health and safety concerns as vault toilets reach capacity," said George Land of the national park's staff. "In addition to human waste in public areas, driving off road and other infractions that damage the resource are becoming a problem."

Joshua Tree National Park Superintendent David Smith said of the campground closure, “I want to extend a sincere thanks to local businesses, volunteer groups, and tribal members who have done their best to assist in picking up litter and helping maintain campgrounds. This is no reflection on their efforts and the park is very fortunate to have a community that exhibits the kind of care and concern witnessed over the last week.”

Smith noted that most visitors are respectful of the park and its facilities, and this appeared to be borne out during my visit this week. Between the hundreds of people I encountered who were enjoying their national park without trashing it, and the volunteers who were donating their time and effort to ensure they could continue to enjoy the park responsibly, it was an encouraging experience.

But it's a fragile one. While volunteers may clean and restock the 150 or so vault toilets within the park, it's unlikely those toilets will be pumped out anytime soon. If, as the president has said, the shutdown lasts for "months or years," the damage to the park, and other public lands, will be significant, long-lasting, and expensive to mitigate and repair. While one report of the theft of historical artifacts was mistaken (the press release that media reports were referring to was from 2016), it is not at all unlikely that professional artifact thieves will take advantage of the reduced presence of law enforcement to take whatever they may want, in Joshua Tree or elsewhere.

And even innocent activities by people not meaning any harm can cause lasting damage, from camping in restricted areas and letting dogs run loose, to setting fires that get out of control and driving over sensitive vegetation. Whether the shutdown lasts another month or ends next week, there is much work to do on educating visitors so they can become stewards and not threats to the parks we are all loving to death.

In the meantime, those of us who do love Joshua Tree National Park and our national parks, preserves, wildlife preserves, national monuments, historic sites, and other public lands, should support and thank the dedicated volunteers who have stepped forward to care for these national treasures. Though many visitors to Joshua Tree may not know it, the volunteers in the communities surrounding the park, whether they are cleaning toilets during the shutdown, serving Christmas dinner for Tender Loving Christmas, or delivering dinners and companionship to isolated seniors for Reach Out Morongo Basin, are also treasures. I'm personally grateful to them all.

Closures

  • All park campgrounds are closed effective January 2, 2019. Indian Cove and Black Rock campgrounds will be open for day-use only, sunrise to sunset.

  • Lost Horse Mine Road is closed effective immediately due to illegal activity.

  • Keys View Road is closed effective immediately.

  • Vault toilets (outside of those in campgrounds) will remain open. Park visitor centers, flush toilets, water filling stations, and dump stations will be closed. Rattlesnake Canyon is closed effective immediately in order to reduce the number of search and rescue events for rangers already spread thin due to the government shutdown.

Ways to Help

  • The 29 Palms Visitor Center and Chamber of Commerce on the highway in downtown Twentynine Palms, is accepting donations of supplies. Toilet paper, 50 gallon garbage bags, and antibacterial wipes are needed.

  • Bring your own toilet paper, water, food, and trash bags with you when visiting the park. Park in designated parking areas only. Follow park rules for dogs - always on a leash, not more than 100 feet from roads or picnic areas, and never on trails.

  • Consider a donation to Friends of Joshua Tree to support their purchases of supplies. http://www.friendsofjosh.org/the-situation-in-joshua-tree-national-park-update/

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