The Government Shut Down. Who's Protecting Our Parks and Public Lands? - An Open Letter to Anyone Who Loves Public Lands
My Digital Detox in the Middle of a Government Shutdown - Why Your Next Hike Needs an Extra Trash Bag
This month, David and I have decided to take a trip to a place that holds a special significance for us.
For our safety, when we travel I never reveal where we are going until after we’ve moved on to another location, because (as I found out years ago) unfortunately, there are people out there who would love to do significant harm to me and those I care about (because of the things I’ve said online in the past, and maybe even more so currently).
For the next month or so, we’ve managed to get our beat-up old trailer up into some of the most awe-inspiring wilderness.
We’re both taking this time to recharge, reconnect with nature, each other, and ourselves.
I’m still working during this time, but not as many hours or days as I usually work.
It’s a partial hiatus, where I’m not taking calls, and am not agreeing to anything that requires me to be available on specific days and times (except for one or two calls that were set up before we hit the road in our 24-year-old truck).
In the past, when we traveled for my consulting work, we always had to stop in places with good internet, which meant we missed out on some of the best spots located deep in remote wilderness areas far from cellular service.
This time, I’m limiting my availability and the hours I work (because we don’t want to be tied to the internet or calls that demand us to keep a schedule).
I am doing some writing, some light social media work, and have agreed to one podcast appearance to help promote the Autism Identity and Me book that I collaborated on with Rebecca Duffus.
This time, on this shorter trip, I want to enjoy our travels more, as I worked the whole time on the last trip and missed out on many experiences due to my excessive work schedule.
We LOVE our national parks, public lands, and forests, but the current government shutdown puts these sacred spaces in danger.
Due to the current government shutdown, many national parks and campgrounds have been closed, either entirely or partially, to protect these spaces.
The lack of staff to maintain and support their operations has led to this closure. However, some parks and public lands remain open, even without rangers to protect and keep these places safe, posing a unique danger to these spaces and those who choose to visit them during the shutdown.
Currently, without park rangers, trash is not being hauled out.
In addition, there is nobody to enforce burn bans in high-fire-danger areas, bathrooms are not being cleaned or maintained, and many acres of public lands have lost the protection for the plants and wildlife (and people) within them.
All of this means that if you venture out into public wilderness areas, Bureau of Land Management lands, National Parks and forests, you do so with increased risk, and it is up to you to care for yourself and our public lands.
If we don’t care for these special places, and they are ruined, we risk losing access to them forever.
As someone who traveled the southwestern US for years in an RV, camping on public lands and in various national wilderness areas, something I learned is, “when people trash public lands repeatedly (or if a mess made in one of these spaces is too large), we risk having some of the most beautiful spaces closed off, and, once shut down and blocked off, sometimes we lose access temporarily, but too often, these spaces are never reopened“.
The last time we had an extended government shutdown, damage was reported in many of our National Parks (vandalism, people driving across and damaging fragile ecosystems, overflowing trash and bathrooms, damaged cultural sites, and stolen items), eventually forcing many of the parks and wilderness areas to close.
David and I don’t spend much time in the national parks, but we do like to venture into our deep wilderness areas (which lack amenities such as bathrooms, trash cans, and other services).
David and I are used to ‘leave no trace camping‘ and ‘packing it in and packing it out.’ However, many part-timers come unprepared to haul away bags of stinking trash and other types of waste, which can have a detrimental impact on the environment if left behind.
For those who are unwilling or unequipped to pack out their trash, it is best to stay out of these spaces while services are on pause. However, if you’re willing to do your part and help out, our forests do need custodians right now to clean up after the selfish people who expect others to clean up after them.
Even a small act of picking up trash can make a big difference in preserving our wilderness.
Leaving things BETTER than we found them.
In the deep wilderness areas (that don’t have trash, bathrooms, or other services), visitors are expected to practice something called “leave no trace“ or, my personal favorite, “leave it better than you found it“ (where you take all the trash you make in camp back out with you, and in our case, clean up trash the previous campers left behind).
Often, most left behind trash is found in fire pits and scattered around campsites, but we also find trash on trails, along roads, and in other remote areas of the wilderness.
Since we started traveling to these remote areas, I’ve spent more hours than I can count picking up trash left behind by careless visitors who don’t hold these spaces with the same reverence that David and I do.
For those without proper supplies (or means to haul out trash and waste), it is best if you avoid entering these spaces entirely.
If you get lost in the woods right now, there may be nobody to come and save you, so if you do choose to enter one of these remote wilderness areas, be aware that there’s more danger in doing so right now, because rangers aren’t out patrolling.
If you don’t have proper safety equipment, a recovery plan, or proper supplies (like water, food, a satellite phone, and recovery gear), and become lost in some remote area where cell service can’t reach, you may find yourself in a perilous situation.
If you’re not “self-sustaining“ or are under-prepared, please stay away (for your safety and the protection of these natural wonders), but if you’re adequately equipped and willing to help work to keep these spaces safe and clean, I have a request for you:
Take time to clean and care for these spaces in the absence of their regular caretakers.
Don’t go out into the wilderness and leave your mess and trash behind.
If you DO go into these spaces, do so with the mindset that you will leave them better than you found them.
Have a “clean-up party“, bring extra trash bags, pick up any trash you find, and haul out the mess, EVEN IF YOU DIDN’T MAKE THE MESS!
It’s up to us to take care of these spaces in the absence of park rangers.
If you can’t leave things better than you found them and you don’t want to help take care of these natural wonders, please refrain from visiting these spaces and expecting others to clean up after you.
Come here with the expectation that these spaces are ours to care for, not to exploit.
Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.