Public urged to stop 'heartbreaking' trend growing in popularity after park cleanup: 'There is a social media craze'

People camping illegally in an iconic natural area in the United Kingdom are recklessly dumping litter and hacking down trees.

As The Keswick Reminder reported, illegal campers are destroying stunningly beautiful areas around Thirlmere and Haweswater in the Lake District of northwest England.

The region is an incredible place to visit and camp — but only in designated areas where human activity won't impact habitats and prevent nature from thriving.

United Utilities employees have taken on the cleanup burden, removing excessive litter, including camping equipment, axes, and abandoned tents. The employees have also found evidence that people started dangerous fires and chopped down young trees for firewood.

"There is a social media craze promoting wild camping, and Raven Crag at Thirlmere has become an incredibly popular selfie spot," United Utilities woodland officer Andrew Wright said.

By prioritizing the perfect Instagram post over responsible land use, campers are exploiting natural resources and threatening native species.

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Parts of this region are still recovering from fires that illegal campers caused over three years ago.

Littering in nature reduces other people's enjoyment of beautiful places and damages the ecosystem. Meanwhile, unnecessarily killing healthy trees eliminates wildlife habitats and opportunities to offset our planet's rapid overheating by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

All these activities work against the appreciation of our natural world and a greater understanding of climate awareness in our environment.

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To address the damage, United Utilities supports the National Parks' Safer Lakes partnership to promote conservation and volunteer work in the region. Meanwhile, media coverage of illegal campers' damaging activities is getting the word out about the impacts of litter and tree-cutting.

"To see young trees hacked down by wild campers so they can use them in campfires is heartbreaking," Wright said. "As well as creating a significant fire risk, the people doing this are destroying the next generation of trees, the ones that would be around for their children to enjoy."