National Parks Are Getting Trashed During COVID-19, Endangering Surrounding Communities – By Andrew R. Chow (TIME) / July 22 2020
Ellie Mora has been running down the Santa Paula Canyon in Ventura County, Calif. on a weekly basis for years. She likes the serenity of the desert: the waterfalls that mist into placid green pools and the burnt orange wildflowers that bloom in the spring. For many like her, the park serves as a calming escape from the stresses and smog that can accompany everyday life in Southern California.
But this spring, following the onset of coronavirus, the park’s condition started to drastically worsen. Litter accumulated on the sides of trails and at watering holes. Graffiti materialized on rocks. Parked cars stretched for more than a mile near the bottom of the trail, and hundreds of people splashed maskless in the canyon’s pools.
“I can’t tell you how much pee and feces were littered along the trail,” Mora said. “It’s disgusting.”
The situation got so bad that the U.S. Forest Service shut down the trail in mid-May, citing the crowds and the trash. Since then, Mora and a team of volunteers have been working long days to clear out the litter and paint over the graffiti.
Continue to article: https://time.com/5869788/national-parks-covid-19/
