Even before the federal government reopened Friday, the staff at Joshua Tree National Park was already doing damage control. The 1,200 square miles of desert landscape in Southern California never closed to the public throughout the 34 days of partial government shutdown, but there were fewer rangers patrolling the park. During that time, vandals cut down Joshua trees, left graffiti, lit fires at illegal campsites, and went off-roading through "pristine desert," according to park superintendent David Smith. "What's happened to our park in the last 34 days is irreparable for the next 200 to 300 years," said Curt Sauer, former Joshua Tree superintendent, at a rally Saturday. READ MORE: Joshua trees cut down, desert vandalized at Joshua Tree National Park during government shutdown Since Dec. 22, 2018, off-roaders left a 20-mile path of destruction as they drove through the desert to get around barriers. The current superintendent of Joshua Tree agreed the damage has the potential of a lasting legacy. The problem with off-roading through pristine desert isn't just the tracks that get left behind in the dirt. Park staff already raked over those tracks and tried to cover them with dead plants (a practice called vertical mulching). The real trouble is what's going on just beneath the surface. In places like the desert of Joshua Tree, there's not a lot of organic material in the soil to help plants grow. Instead, a crust forms on the soil where algae, bacteria and fungus work together to fix nitrogen levels so plants can survive. "Once you break through that crust, you no longer have anything fertilizing the soil to help plants grow in it. And it takes a really long time to recover," Smith explained. "A lot of folks don't realize how fragile the desert is." Smith hopes quick work by park staff to mitigate the soil damage, plus some help from well-timed recent rain, could help the desert floor recover much faster than 200 years. Park officials also reported around 120 illegal fires at makeshift campsites where visitors are not allowed to camp. In many cases, nearby juniper and acacia trees had been cut down and sawed up for firewood. ALSO: It's not just Joshua Tree. Damage has been reported at Death Valley National Park, too. Three Joshua trees, the spiky-leaved trees for which the national park is named, were also cut down. "Those trees will be damaged forever, but luckily our plant community is a renewable resource," said Smith. But the recovery will be slow, Smith admits. "Some Joshua trees have been growing for 300 years. If you're visiting a coastal forest, say in the Oakland hills, eucalyptus trees grow extremely quickly. Here in the desert things grow very, very slowly." Read Alix Martichoux's latest stories and send her news tips at amartichoux@sfchronicle.com. Start receiving breaking news emails on wildfires, civil emergencies, riots, national breaking news, Amber Alerts, weather emergencies, and other critical events with the SFGATE breaking news email. Click here to make sure you get the news.<doc-sep>Scottish singer Rod Stewart takes his seat for the UEFA Champions League Group B football match between Celtic and Anderlecht at Celtic Park stadium in Glasgow, Scotland on December 5, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Andy BUCHANAN (Photo credit should read ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP/Getty Images) Bei Bei is on his way... in his own panda jet Kiyoshi Kimura (R), President of Kiyomura Corp., the Tokyo-based operator of sushi restaurant chain Sushizanmai, displays a 276-kilogram bluefin tuna that fetched 193.2 million yen (1.8 million USD) at his main restaurant in Tokyo on January 5, 2020 after the New Year's auction at Toyosu fish market. EVERETT, WA - JANUARY 25: A Boeing 777X airliner lifts off for its first flight at Paine Field on January 25, 2020 in Everett, Washington. The plane is the latest iteration of its popular wide body model, which feature more fuel efficient engines than its predecessor and composite wings. (Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images) Clackamas County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue teams rescued a climber Monday who had fallen on Mount Hood. The climber was reported to be in stable condition and was brought down by rescuers to Timberline Lodge late Monday afternoon to a waiting ambulance. The climber, a 16-year-old, sustained a leg injury after falling approximately 500 feet. "The climber fell from the Pearly Gates area of Mt. Hood (just below the final push to the summit) down to the Devil's Kitchen," CCSO said in a statement. The call about the fallen and injured teen came in around 9 a.m., according to CCSO. Due to the elevation, the first rescuers didn't reach the injured climber until approximately 1 p.m. That is when they began administering treatment and put a splint on the injured leg. CCSO said Portland Mountain Rescue, Hood River Crag Rats and AMR assisted in the rescue. (CNN) — There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who take it upon themselves to go to understaffed national parks to keep them clean during the government shutdown, and then those who set up illegal campsites and cut down Joshua trees in the national park of the same name. Pictures shared by the National Park Service and the nonprofit news organization National Parks Traveler show a downed tree and illegal campsites in California’s Joshua Tree National Park. National Park Service via National Park Traveler A group of people set up camp on an illegal camp site, David Smith told National Parks Traveler. “There are about a dozen instances of extensive vehicle traffic off roads and in some cases into wilderness. We had destruction of government property with the cutting of chains and locks for people to access campgrounds,” park Superintendent David Smith told National Parks Traveler. “We’ve never seen this level of out-of-bounds camping. Every day-use area was occupied every evening. Joshua trees were actually cut down in order to make new roads.” Despite the partial government shutdown, park officials have been able to keep most of the park accessible, but on Tuesday, they announced the park would temporarily close this week so they could clean up, enforce safety and repair damage due to vandalism. “While the vast majority of those who visit Joshua Tree National Park 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,” officials said on the park’s website. “Law enforcement rangers will continue to patrol the park and enforce the closure until park staff complete the necessary cleanup and park protection measures.” The park released another statement Wednesday saying it would remain open and that access to campgrounds would be restored. Those were first shut down on January 2 due to health and safety concerns due to near-capacity pit toilets. “National Park Service officials have determined that by using Federal Land and Recreation Enhancement funds to immediately bring back park maintenance crews to address sanitation issues, the park will be able to maintain some visitor services, including reopening the campgrounds,” the statement read. Covering more than 792,000 acres from Palm Springs north to the town of Joshua Tree, park officials also said they plan to bring in additional staff to ensure the protection of park resources and repair some of the damages that the park has sustained during the shutdown. It’s not clear how long the park can run on the enhancement funds. Revenue generated by recreation fees was used to avert the closure that was planned for Thursday. CNN has reached out to Joshua Tree National Park for further comment.<doc-sep>The National Park Service announced Tuesday that it would temporarily close Joshua Tree National Park in California beginning Thursday because of dangerous conditions and damage to the land caused by the government shutdown. National parks across the country have not received the federal funding needed to maintain the parks and pay their employees. This has created unsanitary and dangerous conditions for visitors and potentially damaging circumstances for the environment. It's for those reasons that officials at the 1,235-square-mile Joshua Tree National Park decided it was necessary to close temporarily, though it is unclear when they might reopen. In Tuesday’s statement, Joshua Tree National Park said that "Park officials plan to restore accessibility to the park in addition to limited basic services in the coming days." Park officials said that the closing would "allow park staff to address sanitation, safety, and resource protection issues in the park that have arisen during the lapse in appropriations." "While the vast majority of those who visit Joshua Tree National Park 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," the park service said in a statement. The holidays are considered the peak tourist season for Joshua Tree National Park, bringing tens of thousands of visitors to the rugged desert landscape for sightseeing, hiking and rock climbing. The money that brings to the surrounding communities is vital. "It’s really upsetting," Sabra Purdy, the owner of local business Cliffhanger Guides, previously told NBC News about the ongoing shutdown. "This community depends on the federal government. This is not a wealthy community. The park is a huge backbone of the economic reality of this town filled with service industry people and hotel and restaurant and guided service workers." Purdy has been able to maintain her Joshua Tree-based business because, unlike previous administrations, President Donald Trump's White House decided to keep the parks open during the government shutdown. But as many park employees have been furloughed because of the shutdown, trash pickup, waste sanitation and visitor services have become nearly obsolete, leaving conditions less than desirable. That has left Purdy and her husband Seth to organize volunteers to clean up the park in place of federal employees who aren't allowed to work. "None of us should have to be doing this," Purdy said. "The park service and government should be funded. The people whose livelihood that depends on this should be able to do their jobs." In response to numerous reports of visitors leaving behind trash and befouled bathrooms at various parks across the country, the National Park Service announced over the weekend that it would begin to use entrance, camping, parking and other fees that were previously collected to fill the funding vacuum. That decision has caused some controversy because that money tends to be used for park projects and visitor services, rather than maintenance and operations. It appears that the decision could be interpreted as legal under the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act. In the park service's announcement over the weekend, P. Daniel Smith, the deputy director of the National Park Service, called the decision to use the fees an "extraordinary measure," but deemed it necessary. "After consultation with the Office of the Solicitor at the Department of the Interior, it has been determined that these funds can and should be used to provide immediate assistance and services to highly visited parks during the lapse in appropriations," Smith said in a statement.<doc-sep>Joshua Tree National Park may need centuries to recover from damage caused by visitors during the 35-day government shutdown, a former ranger said. With just a skeleton crew of workers and most park rangers furloughed, vandals ran amok in the Southern California park during the shutdown, toppling gates and posts, carving new roads through the desert and ripping some of the park’s namesake contorted trees to the ground. “What’s happened to our park in the last 34 days is irreparable for the next 200 to 300 years,” former Joshua Tree National Park superintendent Curt Sauer said at a Saturday rally, organized to highlight the environmental toll of the shutdown, according to the Desert Sun. Photos shared on social media showed towering Dr. Seuss-esque Joshua Trees in tatters, after being chopped down and apparently run over by cars. Other images showed overflowing piles of trash, filthy public bathrooms and graffiti drawn on rocks. Rangers announced they would temporarily close Jan. 8 to deal with some of the damage, but then reopened. A volunteer cleanup crew of about 100 people cleaned bathrooms and repaired fences in the Delaware-size park — but replanting and growing Joshua Trees takes a long time. Workers were back Monday and surveyed the catastrophic damage. “Those trees will be damaged forever, but luckily our plant community is a renewable resource,” park superintendent David Smith told SF Gate. Still, he added: “Here in the desert, things grow very, very slowly,”<doc-sep>
A former park supervisor condemned the impact of the recent government shutdown on California's Joshua Tree National Park at a protest rally Saturday. Activists said that the lack of park rangers on duty left the iconic protected area open to off-roading, vandalism and illegal camping. "What's happened to our park in the last 34 days is irreparable for the next 200 to 300 years," Curt Sauer, who was park superintendent from 2003 to 2010, told locals at the rally, according to Palm Springs' Desert Sun newspaper. Photographs of apparently vandalized Joshua trees recently sparked outrage on social media, with one user calling damage to the park "a travesty to this nation." Officials temporarily shuttered the park on January 10 to address "sanitation, safety and resource protection issues in the park that have arisen during the lapse in appropriations." "While the vast majority of those who visit Joshua Tree National Park 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," a statement announcing the closure read. I don't care if you're a Democrat or Republican, what's going on at Joshua Tree National Park is a travesty to this nation. True Americans don't destroy and trash our National Parks just because no one's looking., only thugs and criminals do. https://t.co/KdWMCwXQZi pic.twitter.com/obhSgVf9N7 — AI6YR (@ai6yrham) January 10, 2019 "You were told that the park was adequately staffed and protected," Sauer told the rally, according to the Los Angeles Times. "That was a false statement from Washington. It was a kind of, you know, fake news." Sauer praised the efforts of the numerous volunteers who helped clean up trash and service bathrooms in popular areas while Joshua Tree was partially staffed. The park remained open—partially or fully—for much of the five-week shutdown. John Lauretig, who helped look after the park with other volunteers, lamented the fact that Joshua Tree was kept open without the protection of its full staff. "The local community is fed up with our parks being held hostage, and the fact that it's open and partially staffed is not good for the park, it's not good for the public and it's not good for the local community here," Lauretig, who is executive director of the Friends of Joshua Tree nonprofit, told The Desert Sun. "We want the government to operate appropriately, fund the parks appropriately and be open so we can have a regular, normal life," he continued. Initially planned to protest the government shutdown, the rally attracted more than 100 attendees in spite of a bill that reopened the government Friday. Some attendees feared the possibility the government will shut down again on February 15, as President Donald Trump has warned. "If the government doesn't fund or staff the parks appropriately, then they should just close the parks to protect the parks and protect the people," Lauretig suggested. "Even as the federal government was reopened by Congress on Friday, the president has threatened another shutdown in three weeks," Sauer told the rally, according to The Desert Times. "Happy Valentine's Day, America."