The Library of Congress describes a romantic history of the founding of the United States' national parks. "With increased awareness of and sensitivity toward nature," they chronicled, "came the desire to preserve some of the most spectacular landscapes … for the enjoyment of future generations."
Yet despite these noble origins, some contemporary visitors "enjoy" the parks so much that they make themselves a part of them — by carving their names into natural features.
Wyoming's Cowboy State Daily reported on one such incident. A visitor to Yellowstone National Park, whom they referred to as "some guy named Nick," seemingly loved the park so much "that he scratched his name and a message into a delicate thermal area."
"Now, many angry people want to know who and where Nick is so they can hold him accountable for defacing the park," they wrote.
Presumably, carving a message like this would have taken several minutes. Its location is close enough to a popular boardwalk that many residents wondered why nobody intervened.
"If you see this happening, please take their picture, get their license plate and turn them in to the rangers," said resident Cindy Shaffer. "I have had to make reports before, and they did follow up on it, and the people ended up having to go to court. Visitors have to stop destroying our park!"
For these thermal areas, damage like this has lasting impacts. The National Park Service wrote in a Facebook post that even a single step off the boardwalk can impact "six different plant species, three native bugs, and countless soil biota (like bacteria and fungi)."
Fortunately, there are severe consequences for doing so. In the last several years, visitors have had to shell out thousands of dollars in fines and even serve jail time for stepping onto delicate thermal areas, the Daily reported. (Even celebrities like actor Pierce Brosnan have to pay the price.)
While the boardwalks are clearly marked, the Daily quoted Bob Murray, then acting U.S. Attorney in Yellowstone: "There will always be those … who don't get it."
In fact, it's so common that there's an entire Instagram page dedicated to behavior like this. It's called Tourons of Yellowstone (@touronsofyellowstone) — "tourons" combining the words "tourist" and "moron" — and it's amassed over half a million followers.
Instead, NPS encourages visitors to follow the principles of Leave No Trace, which include properly disposing of waste, leaving nature intact, and being considerate of others.
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