A few weeks back it was announced that camping at Sand Island Recreation Area was being suspended due to bad behavior at night. The Department of Land & Natural Resources (DLNR) cited partying, large groups of people hanging around, and excessive littering as factors that necessitated the timeout.
How sad. People cannot figure out how to have a good time without ruining it for everyone else, and the park itself? Have we become so self-centered that we simply don’t think about or care about the repercussions? Sure, you’ve had a tough week, as had hundreds of thousands of others.
Deal with it, life’s tough, but don’t make it miserable for other campers, families, and the people paid to clean up after you. DLNR workers there are park caretakers, not babysitters. People without permits or hanging around after their permit expires (thus making it tough to get ready for the next group), illegal fires (do we need more of those?), litter tossed wherevah, leaving used gear behind, drinking alcohol, partying all night, entering after the gates close, allowing 30 people in your hui when the limit per site is 10… the list of unethical and/or illegal conduct goes on and on.
While DLNR doesn’t know (or doesn’t comment) on exactly where the miscreants come from that forced this closure action, the sense that it’s a mix of locals and visitors. Which could create even more problems.
The Boy Scouts have a concept: “Leave No Trace is an awareness and an attitude rather than a set of rules. It applies in your backyard or local park as much as in the backcountry.” If a bunch of 12-year olds can figure that out, can the so-called adults in the park crowd act accordingly?
While civility and ethics have taken a nosedive in recent years, perhaps a small (tiny) sense of guilt will cause those responsible for this unnecessary camping hiatus to think about their actions and act more responsibly going forward. When the park re-opens, DLNR promises on-the-spot enforcement whereby state officers will hand out monetary citations as a fiscal and physical reminder- it’s not your park, it’s our park. Love it or leave it.
I wonder if any of these same trashy individuals that caused the Sand Island Recreation Area problems are hypocritical, “protect our āina” aficionados? You know, the do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do crowd. Only when it’s convenient, apparently.
Think about it…