Joshua Tree National Park is a place I love like no other. I fell in love with the park and the village in 2006, long before it became a desert destination of ever increasing crowds, cars and short term vacation rentals. Which is why it’s maddening to see the willful damage of this environmentally sensitive area caused by people during the partial government shutdown across the United States.
These trees, intentionally cut down by ignorant people, will never grow again to this size in my lifetime. People are making their own roads where there is no business being a road. People are camping where ever they feel like it.
Close the park, for the good of the Joshua Trees and the land
The reality is, the park just doesn’t have enough resources to stop this nonsense. Groups of volunteers are helping to clean bathrooms, replenish toilet paper and supplies, clean up piles of garbages. But, they shouldn’t have to. Other groups, like the Mojave Desert Land Trust, are calling for the park to be temporarily closed during the showdown in order to protect the land… from humans.
I have to agree.
Juanita Metzger 
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