A recent incident at New Mexico’s Carlsbad Caverns National Park has underscored the potential damage small acts of littering can cause to sensitive environments. The National Park Service (NPS) highlighted an episode where a discarded bag of Cheetos puff chips was left inside the Big Room, the park’s largest cave chamber. The cave, known for its stunning underground geological formations, stretches over 1.25 miles.
While the visitor may have thought the bag would be picked up without consequence, it ended up attracting a variety of critters, including cave crickets, spiders, and mites. These creatures formed a temporary food web that disrupted the cave’s ecosystem. According to the NPS, the processed corn snack created an ideal environment for microbial life and fungi to flourish, further spreading mold on nearby surfaces.
Park rangers spent over 20 minutes scrubbing the area to remove the waste and mold caused by the intrusion. The NPS emphasized that only plain water is allowed inside the caverns to prevent such incidents, reiterating that sneaking in food or drinks could lead to the attraction of unwanted wildlife like raccoons and ringtails.
The park service used this incident to remind visitors of the impact seemingly minor actions can have. In a statement, the NPS wrote, “Great or small we all leave an impact wherever we go. Let us all leave the world a better place than we found it.”
This event is part of a larger effort by the NPS to curb littering in national parks, a problem that has worsened in recent years due to increasing visitor numbers, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic. The NPS processes an average of 70 million pounds of garbage annually, underscoring the ongoing challenge of protecting these natural spaces.
The incident serves as a reminder for visitors to follow park guidelines and respect the delicate ecosystems that make these national parks unique.
