When lifestyle and fitness influencers Mari Llewellyn and Gregory LaVecchia visited Custer Gallatin National Forest in Montana, a regular series of videos turned shocking as they showed a clip of themselves blatantly vandalizing a tree.
One viewer immediately took a screenshot of the destruction as evidence. In it, Greg can be seen carving something — presumably his and Mari's names — into the delicate bark of a tree.
The viewer shared it to Reddit, writing, "Mari and Greg illegally vandalizing in Custer Gallatin National Forest," along with a series of stunned emojis.
Fellow Redditors were similarly outraged, calling out the selfish behavior. "Recording it is a whole new level of entitlement," one person wrote.
Another agreed, saying: "Love it when people film their own crimes."
One commenter pointed out that carving names into a tree that the couple was unlikely to ever revisit was self-absorbed and cruel. "All this is doing is making the surroundings look sh***** for everyone else. Pisses me off so much."
Another urged action. "Please report this!"
Several people chimed in that they had already called Montana's park authorities in order to report the crime.
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"Hopefully they get fined and banned from the National Parks," one said.
While social media can be the motivation for capturing acts of vandalism like this, it can also serve as a useful tool for identifying perpetrators. So often, national and state parks struggle to enforce their bans on littering and vandalism because it's simply too hard to trace the culprits.
But concerned parkgoers — even ones who aren't physically there, like this person — have been able to help by reporting vandalism they witness so that the perpetrators can face the consequences of their actions.
While it may seem innocent enough to wander off trail or carve names into a tree, these actions can create lasting damage in the delicate ecosystems within protected park areas. Those effects are even worse when people introduce toxins into an environment, whether from spray-painting trees or leaving plastic garbage strewn around.
Instead, people can show their respect and love for nature — in national parks and beyond — by following the principles of "Leave No Trace" and, as that organization says, "taking only pictures and leaving only footprints."
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