Joshua Tree National Park adapts to increasing visitor numbers
David Smith, director of Joshua Tree National Park, talks about dealing with the increasing number of visitors.
Jay Calderon, Palm Springs Desert Sun
Cleanup operations are underway in Joshua Tree National Park after three tourists from Germany received citations earlier this week for shooting paintballs at signs, toilets and garbage containers.
The tickets were issued after a park ranger patrolling the Jumbo Rocks Campground on Monday noticed fresh yellow paintball splatters on buildings and signs, according to a park news release Thursday. Other rangers who were called to the scene then saw a slingshot lying “in plain sight” in a vehicle.
Rangers determined the vehicle belonged to the three visitors and questioned them. The visitors stated that they had fired the paintballs the previous evening using both a paintball gun and slingshots. A search of the vehicle then found three slingshots, a paintball gun, paintballs and what was described as “other associated equipment.”
Rangers also eventually identified 11 signs along Park Boulevard, the park’s main street, that had been shot at with paintballs. The signs were located along the roughly 15-mile stretch of road on the park’s heavily traveled west side that stretches from the campground to the Maze Trailhead.
The tourists received federal citations for vandalism, damage or destruction of property. The three people named were not identified by name in the park’s press release, which said paintball guns and slingshots are prohibited by law in the park.
The park’s assistant chief ranger stated in the press release that park staff often have to remove graffiti, complaining that it takes up time and resources that could be used for other priorities.
“Defacement or alteration of the National Park Service landscape, no matter how small, is against the law,” said Acting Chief Ranger Jeff Filosa. “It harms the natural environment that millions of people around the world come to enjoy.”
Paul Albani-Burgio covers growth, development and business in the Coachella Valley. Follow him on Twitter at @albaniburgiop and email him at [email protected].
