This past week, I have been fortunate to take a vacation to sunny Arizona to visit my aunt, leaving bipolar Ohio behind. My family has always been huge fans of National Parks. In fact, when I was younger, we would often go out of our way whilst traveling to our vacation spot in order to stop at them. My parents have the little passport that you get stamped at each site, and I was a Junior Park Ranger to at least 20+ National Parks by the time I was 16.
So, it only makes sense that we went to the Grand Canyon while in Arizona.
I was so excited to see something that I could only vaguely remember (my earliest memories were of our last trip to Arizona when I was four, the Grand Canyon included). I was practically jumping out of my seat the entire three and a half hour drive through the Arizona desert until we were finally there. Backpack on my back, camera in hand, water in tow, I was ready to go.
I spent hours in the park taking tons of pictures, staring at the great wonder that is the canyon, and eating ice cream (because come on, it's ice cream). I was having the time of my life... but then enter the reason I am writing this article.
Some lady got on the shuttle back to the Visitors Center WITH A TREE BRANCH IN HER HAND!!!
"Oh, so what, Kelly? She took a stick. It's not like she took an actual piece of the canyon with her. It's a stick."
Yes, it is a stick, but taking ANYTHING from a National Park, including "just a stick," is punishable by law and is considered a federal offense.
What if that was some lizard's little home? Now you've disrupted wildlife. What if that branch was a thousand-years-old? Now you stole a part of history. What if that branch was federal property? Oh wait, IT IS!
I was a Girl Scout my entire life since kindergarten and my late troop leader, Mrs. Hadaway, always told us to leave something better than how we found it. She always told us to take only pictures and leave only footprints on the trails. We were to respect nature and understand that we were walking on borrowed grounds and that it is not right for us to abuse that.
I mean, come on people! The Grand Canyon is one of the seven natural wonders of the world! It's our job as visitors to help preserve it so that later generations can enjoy it as we have. How is it so hard to understand that?
I know that under this current presidency that National Parks are just thrown to the side and are not cared for, but to nature lovers like me, they still matter, and I'm willing to bet I'm not the only one that still cares about them.
National Parks are just as important as strip malls and shopping centers. They're some of the only federally protected spaces that can't be invaded upon by real estate agents looking to sell land to the highest investor to do as they please. They protect endangered wildlife, rare plants, and breath-taking sights.
These places have been around a lot longer than we have. Start respecting them.
