The aftermath of this shutdown is heavily affecting people, so what about our national parks? What about our preservation of natural history?
As someone who has a strong love for the natural world, it strikes me as ridiculous to see what has happened to our national parks.
The Joshua Tree National Park is located in Southern California. The park is dedicated to the preservation of the Joshua tree, and spans over 1,235 square miles of land. What intrigues scientists and conversationalists alike is the pace at which these trees grow--usually, you can tell the age of a tree by looking at its trunk rings. Joshua trees don’t possess this feature, and grow at an almost excruciatingly slow rate. This makes it difficult to determine their age.
There are some trees in the park whose ages still to this day remain unknown. These trees are so sentimental that even the esteemed alternative rock band, U2, named one of their albums after them.
Soon after the government shutdown, many national parks struggled to stay open before they ran out of energy. Some irresponsible few took advantage of the lack of staff and national regulation in the Joshua Tree Park. Trees were burnt to ash and dust, and cut down or run over to make unauthorized pathways. It is still uncertain as to why people decided to vandalise a national remnant.It took around one hundred people to come together and attempt to fix the damage that had been done, but only time can truly take care of the rest.
Joshua trees enjoy taking their time, as they mature relatively slowly in comparison to other trees. They only grow from half to three inches within a year. It is estimated that it would take centuries for damage to become undone completely. Our country--in every sense of the word--is being pillaged and shattered. When will people take responsibility for their crimes? When will neglect and a lack of dignity stop being a normality?
As someone who has a strong love for the natural world, it strikes me as ridiculous to see what has happened to our national parks.
The Joshua Tree National Park is located in Southern California. The park is dedicated to the preservation of the Joshua tree, and spans over 1,235 square miles of land. What intrigues scientists and conversationalists alike is the pace at which these trees grow--usually, you can tell the age of a tree by looking at its trunk rings. Joshua trees don’t possess this feature, and grow at an almost excruciatingly slow rate. This makes it difficult to determine their age.
There are some trees in the park whose ages still to this day remain unknown. These trees are so sentimental that even the esteemed alternative rock band, U2, named one of their albums after them.
Soon after the government shutdown, many national parks struggled to stay open before they ran out of energy. Some irresponsible few took advantage of the lack of staff and national regulation in the Joshua Tree Park. Trees were burnt to ash and dust, and cut down or run over to make unauthorized pathways. It is still uncertain as to why people decided to vandalise a national remnant.It took around one hundred people to come together and attempt to fix the damage that had been done, but only time can truly take care of the rest.
Joshua trees enjoy taking their time, as they mature relatively slowly in comparison to other trees. They only grow from half to three inches within a year. It is estimated that it would take centuries for damage to become undone completely. Our country--in every sense of the word--is being pillaged and shattered. When will people take responsibility for their crimes? When will neglect and a lack of dignity stop being a normality?