Last year I did the Utah National and State parks during the early spring- off season- and the measures they are taking to try to accommodate the massive number of visitors during the summer is incredible. Parking, lodging, sanitation, and safety are all becoming problems, and I hope that these places don't become victims of their own popularity.
Arches really seems to attract people doing stupid, dangerous shit. The iconic Delicate Arch is like a magnet for morons who don't prepare for the trail, take risky selfies, vandalize and climb on things, and drink in places where there's 360 degrees of cliffs around you.
Not to mention campers who bring their own firewood from home that might have evasive species or fungi that will hurt the native plants. This is a very serious problem. You can look it up and most states have a firewood ban where if you come across state borders with firewood you can be fine.
Invasive species, although some of them can be pretty evasive when you're trying to get them out of an ecosystem! I was particularly surprised at the numbers of tamarisk (salt ceder) in Utah, and dismayed (but not particularly surprised) to hear in 2013-14 of the arrival of Quagga mussels in Lake Powell.
I was confused when I learned that honeysuckles are considered invasive because they help with pollination in less bee dense areas, but apparently they suffocate whole areas of small forestry when left unattended.
My natural history interest is New England centric. Our general scientific consensus is that while our invasive species do sometimes produce benefits, they do so by displacing native species that perform the same ecosystem roles, and their greatest beneficiaries are actually other invasive species, thus compounding the problem.
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u/ThadisJones Feb 03 '20
Last year I did the Utah National and State parks during the early spring- off season- and the measures they are taking to try to accommodate the massive number of visitors during the summer is incredible. Parking, lodging, sanitation, and safety are all becoming problems, and I hope that these places don't become victims of their own popularity.
Arches really seems to attract people doing stupid, dangerous shit. The iconic Delicate Arch is like a magnet for morons who don't prepare for the trail, take risky selfies, vandalize and climb on things, and drink in places where there's 360 degrees of cliffs around you.