Few national parks have been hit harder by the government shutdown than Joshua Tree National Park, a nearly 800,000-acre protected area in Southern California known for its rocky landscape and stunning throng of centuries-old trees. The number of people visiting the park has climbed continuously over the past several years. In 2017, it attracted about 2.9 million visitors. With most park employees unable to work during the shutdown, many visitors were left unchecked, leading to a Wild West of human activity. Soon after the shutdown began, parkgoers began seeing restrooms overflowing with trash and human waste. Reports surfaced of visitors defacing rocks with graffiti, camping illegally, cutting down beloved Joshua trees, and skirting entrance fees, which are supposed to go toward visitor services. The activity forced the park to temporarily close its campgrounds, though the rest of the park managed to remain open to visitors. One of the park's former superintendents is now warning that the damage could last for centuries. On Saturday, the day after President Donald Trump signed a bill to end the shutdown, protesters gathered near Joshua Tree to lament the destruction of the public land. Speaking before a large crowd, the former superintendent, Curt Sauer, painted a picture of what happened during the shutdown. According to Sauer, Joshua Tree had been forced to operate with only 40 percent of its maintenance staff and 20 percent of its resource-management scientists. He said the park diverted US$300,000 in entrance fees – which were supposed to go toward maintaining trails, upgrading campgrounds, and building a new visitors center – to continue operations while employees were furloughed, or temporarily laid off. "What's happened to our park in the last 34 days is irreparable for the next 200 to 300 years," he said. In a statement to Business Insider, John Garder, a senior director of the National Parks Conservation Association, agreed that some of the damage could be permanent. "Some damage can be repaired, but some things can be lost forever," Garder said. Of particular concern, he added, was the possibility of vandalised historical sites or the looting of irreplaceable artifacts. The environmental damage could also be long-lasting. During the shutdown, there were at least three reports of Joshua trees being cut down to make room for illegal off-roading in restricted zones. In addition to being the park's namesake, the trees are a key part of the Southern California ecosystem, providing vital support to birds, bats, and insects, among other forms of wildlife. "When a mature tree is cut down, an ancient organism has been killed, and it could be centuries before another takes its place," a director of the Mojave Desert Land Trust told the Desert Sun. According to Garder, off-roading can also damage the "biological crust on the soil that supports a web of life." If Joshua Tree National Park hopes to repair this damage, it will have to pull from an already waning pool of funding. The NPCA estimated that the National Parks Service faces more than US$13 million in uncollected entrance-fee revenue as a result of the shutdown, on top of a US$11.6 billion repairs backlog. In his speech on Saturday, Sauer estimated that Joshua Tree had lost about US$800,000 during the shutdown. The next day, Trump suggested that another shutdown could be on the horizon. This article was originally published by Business Insider. More from Business Insider:<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."<doc-sep>The partial government shutdown ended last week after 35 days, but conservationists have warned that its impact may be felt for hundreds of years in at least one part of the country: Joshua Tree National Park. The Southern California park, which is larger than Rhode Island and famed for its dramatic rock formations and the spiky-leafed Joshua trees from which it takes it name, had only a skeleton crew of workers during the shutdown. With most of its park rangers furloughed, vandals and inconsiderate guests ran amok. Gates and posts were toppled, new roads carved through the desert by unauthorized off-road drivers, and a small number of the park’s thousands of Joshua trees were outright destroyed, conservationists said. Pictures posted to social media showed trees that were chopped down or that appeared to have been driven over by cars. The sensitive ecosystem of desert and craggy rock formations that surrounds them was littered with garbage and other telltale signs of illegal camping.<doc-sep>
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. The government shutdown left hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed, forcing many national parks to operate without rangers. Volunteers hauled out trash and cleaned toilets – but in a park covering 1,235 square miles, it wasn’t enough to stop damage from visitors to the park who did not heed warnings to take extra care. The decision to keep national parks open with reduced staff was met with criticism. Stories of destruction that came out of Joshua Tree during the shutdown were devastating. “There are about a dozen instances of extensive vehicle traffic off roads and in some cases into wilderness,” David Smith, the current Joshua Tree national park superintendent, told National Parks Traveler after announcing the need to close. “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. We’ve never seen this level of out-of-bounds camping. Everyday use area was occupied every evening.” “Joshua trees were actually cut down in order to make new roads,” he added. A barrier blocks a campground at the park during the shutdown. Photograph: Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images The local community is “fed up” with the fact that the park was left open during the shutdown, said John Lauretig, executive director of the nonprofit Friends of Joshua Tree, at Saturday’s “Shutdown the Shutdown for Joshua Tree National Park” rally. The group organized volunteers who helped with the cleanup. “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 said. The National Park service did not immediately respond a request for additional comment on Monday. If the government ends up shutting down again, Lauretig said the park should be closed completely to prevent further damage, adding, “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.”