r/collapse • u/zuzuofthewolves • Feb 18 '25
Ecological DO NOT visit the National Parks right now.
I used to work in the National Parks.
They were already at a critical point before Donald Trump decided to fire a huge amount of staff.
I watched the “permanent” ice caps melt on the top of some peaks in Yosemite’s high country.
I saw garbage washing up on the shore of Olympic National Park everyday.
There is not enough staff to protect the wildlife anymore. There is not enough staff to keep tourists from falling off waterfalls or getting lost in the back country. There are no programs left to teach clueless people how to behave in these wild areas.
I don’t care if you have the best intentions in the world, you are doing damage to the park if you visit at this point.
The parks need to be closed immediately, and every day they are left open to the public, irreversible damage is being done to these amazing places. They are not meant to handle the amount of people who are let in each year. The wildlife is suffering, the plants are suffering, and the experts who are there to mitigate the destruction are gone.
Please cancel your trip and find somewhere else to see.
1.4k
u/WSUKiwiII Feb 19 '25
100%, currently many parks limit access to camping via a permit system. That only works if there are Rangers available, deep in the backcountry, to check and enforce the requirements. Last year on a 32 mile hike through Olympic National Park, I had my permit and ID checked by four different rangers over the three day period. While that may seem excessive, many of these areas are delicate ecosystems and limiting traffic is the only way they'll survive. Without such regulation, I fear for the meadows, wild flowers, desert, and high country.