EXCERPT: Shuttle buses at Zion National Park, in southwest Utah, filled like sweaty subway cars. Selfie-takers clogged the slender path through the Narrows slot canyon, one of the park’s best-known attractions. And at the top of Angels Landing, an iconic trail of switchbacks on the east side of the park, some portable toilets were marked off with a sign: “Due to extreme use, these toilets have reached capacity.”
…Zion’s delicate desert ecosystem has been battered by tourists, some of whom wash diapers in the Virgin River, scratch their names into boulders and fly drone cameras through once quiet skies. The park has about 25 miles of developed trails. But over time, rangers have mapped about 600 miles of visitor-made paths, which damage vegetation and soil and take a toll on wildlife.
The story is similar at parks from Yosemite in California to Acadia in Maine.
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Excerpt:
Jeanetta Williams, President of the Salt Lake City Chapter of the NAACP, issued a statement Thursday saying they are disappointed with the change and that they hope steps will be taken to preserve the history of the canyon and the man it was named for.
“The NAACP received word this morning that the US Board of Geographic Names changed the name of Negro bill canyon to grand staff canyon. Of course, we are disappointed, because our intent is to let people know that Negro is not an offensive word like some people were saying. What the NAACP want to make sure is that the history of the Negro bill canyon is not lost. The NAACP would like to make sure that literature is provided to visitors that come into the canyon area, as well as the state of Utah about the history of Negro bill canyon.”
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