The graffiti tagger(s) who desecrated Yosemite Falls Trail? Throw the book at them
It’s a crime against nature, a crime against our country and a crime against one particular city all scrawled into one.
The pea-brained spray-can vandal (or vandals) who desecrated Yosemite National Park with graffiti cannot be allowed to get off with a light slap. Not if we want to send a message to those who think it’s OK to treat our public lands like an abandoned warehouse by the railroad tracks.
Last month’s tagging of the Upper Yosemite Falls Trail, revealed Sunday by park officials in a social media plea to help them identify those responsible, is but the latest example of an egregious trend for which there seems to be no serious consequences — besides a few spoonfuls of public shame.
Under federal law, vandalism of a national park is a misdemeanor that can bring three to six months in prison and up to a $5,000 fine. Which sounds like a fairly stiff deterrence, provided it’s fully enforced.
Except that doesn’t seem to be the regular occurrence. Those responsible for high-profile graffiti incidents at national parks tend to get off easier than their crimes deserve.
Casey Nocket, a young woman posting under the alias “CreepyTings,” received a two-year ban from 524 acres of U.S. public land plus 200 hours of community service and two years probation for defacing rock formations at seven national parks in 2014. In 2020, a Canadian man identified only as “Steve” paid a fine after confessing and apologizing for marking multiple sites at Death Valley National Park.
Based on recent incidents at Zion, Joshua Tree and Pinnacles, as well as several California state parks, the dismaying trend only seems to be spreading.
Making an example of those responsible for tagging granite boulders at some 30 locations along the Upper Yosemite Falls Trail is as good an opportunity as any to nip this egregiousness in the bud.
Fortunately, the vandals left behind plenty of clues that should help investigators track them down. Which is where the conversation starts to get uncomfortable for one particular California city.
If you’ve seen the photos released by the park service, you know the one.
Gotta admit, seeing “Fresno” and “559” spray-painted onto those boulders made my head droop in shame. (Even more so after spending the prior week rafting 188 miles down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, which remains remarkably pristine despite heavy use.)
Crazy how one respectless knucklehead and a couple cans of spray paint are all it takes to tarnish the reputation of a city of 540,000.
But at least Fresno can take solace in the knowledge that it’s hardly alone. Tagging is a universal blight.
It’s true that humans have been writing and carving their initials at scenic locations for centuries. However, most of those occurrences were prior to the concept of public land. So when someone spray-paints a boulder in a national park, that boulder doesn’t just belong to a faceless government agency. It belongs to all of us.
Which is why the Park Service should throw the book at the Fresno tagger(s) who violated the Yosemite Falls Trail after they find and arrest them. Because if they don’t, more people might get the wrong idea that Americans like their national treasures spray-painted.
This story was originally published June 14, 2022 at 5:00 PM with the headline "The graffiti tagger(s) who desecrated Yosemite Falls Trail? Throw the book at them."
