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Environmental Soapbox
You may recall a recent Trek to Shore Styers Mill Nature Park where I photographed the waterfall on North Deep Creek. This is a wonderful place located in the Piedmont of North Carolina where you can view a waterfall, hike, and just generally enjoy nature. From the sound of things, this is fun for the whole family.
Unfortunately, even a maintained county park is not immune to the acts of immature people. This park which I enjoy so much and would be a great place to bring the family has been continuously defaced for years. There is graffiti on top of graffiti, some of which is rather vulgar, and obscene. This is not the place that it could be. After two Treks here, I have finally decided to do a photo essay of sorts about this park. I will apologize up front for one of the photographs that I will post as it has some bad language in it, but I felt that it helped illustrate some of the atrocities that go on in this park.
One of the first things that you see when entering the park is the bulletin board where park information is (should be) posted. As you will notice, the roof portion has been broken and is cocked to the rear of the board, no longer providing cover from the weather. There is more spray paint now than information. On the left side was an informational poster about butterflies. Apparently, somebody didn't care for butterflies and painted the entire side black. There is some very good information on the other side of the board however that has not been covered up.
As you can see a civic minded individual has written "This is not a Landfill Take your Trash with you". This is all well and good, but the graffiti might actually be a longer lasting problem than the trash. But I appreciate the thought nonetheless. The sentiments were found to be duplicated later in my explorations.
In the photograph above, you will see the profanity that I was talking about. The now broken roof panel obscures part of the message, but it says "F___ Y-ville + All it's lil B______". So nice of them to leave this message to the city of Yadkinville who plays host to this park. At least one has to go to the back of the board to see this part.
Just beyond the bulletin board, you will find a historical item from when this site was a grist mill. The grinding wheels are mounted on concrete as a tribute to the history here. Once again, its not complete unless somebody puts there name on it, or a special message to someone. Since there is no delete button with spray paint, I can only imagine that somebody made a grammatical error on the right wheel and felt badly about it. The only option was to break off a chunk of the wheel so nobody would see their faux pas.
Yadkin County was nice enough to build this overlook about two years ago so that families could enjoy the falls without having to scurry down the embankment. As you can see, graffiti has reared it's ugly head once again. I wonder if "GDOGG" knows who has written all the messages on the one remaining railing?
As you can see, there once was a protective railing here to keep people from falling off the platform. Only the upright remains now, which reads, "Joe Amber 4Ever". At this rate, its a race to see if Joe and Amber last longer than the platform....ahh, young love.
I began to ponder where the railings went to after they were summarily removed from the platform. My answer came on the river bank below. Apparently, at some point, a fire was needed to truly enjoy this waterfall. Possibly, it was Joe and Amber that chose to use the pressure treated (carcinogenic when burned by the way) wood of the fence to stay warm.
Maybe they should have just wrapped up in this towel to stay warm. I guess the fire was more romantic.
This brings me to the part of the story where we actually get to see the waterfall up close and personal. Oh what a lovely sight with the rushing water cascading over.....
....a drink can. Good grief, I can't even get a good picture here because of all the trash that has found its way into the water.
Everywhere you look, there is trash. Oh, if only somebody had read the public service announcement so proudly posted on the bulletin board. No worries, there is a reminder down on the river level as well.
I'm not sure if it is the illiteracy of the writer of the notice or the illiteracy of the reader that led to this odd conundrum.
As I have said before, trash is easy to pick up, but graffiti is a bit more permanent. Case in point, the rocky wall on the far side of the waterfall. I'm not quite sure what it says, but there is a good deal of red spray paint on that wall intermingled with the lichen. It is faint, but a continuous problem for me when I am photographing this side of the waterfall. I usually have to go against my normal rules, and clone out the spray paint. This is much more photo editing that I like to do with my picture, but sometimes it has to be done.
This is not an isolated problem. I have seen it many places across North Carolina, and I imagine that it is the same everywhere. Who's problem is it? Is it the governments? Maybe the Law Enforcement Community? Maybe the educators? The ones actually doing the littering and defacing??? Nope...not their problem, they don't mind it a bit....It's our problem. What can we do?
I think standing up for our environment is one answer. Make it a point to educate when you can about the effects of vandalism and littering. I'm not saying beat it down people's throat...nothing will be accomplished by that except for turning people away from what you are saying. When you are out, and see this problem, pitch in and do something about it. Even if it is just putting the trash in a proper receptacle. Maybe you could organize something in your community with the resources needed to remove the graffiti, and repair damages.
I try my hardest to live by a mantra that I learned while camping at Hanging Rock this past year.
"Leave only footsteps...
...Take only memories"
Written by Greg A. Kiser © 2007
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Just sad and sick... It's everywhere... I'm known as an optimist...but this is a cracker... ;) C.
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a very good article. vandalism and littering infuriate me....and sadly, it's not just teens and kids who are guilty. i think marie offered some good solutions...guess all of us who care must get involved.
gina -
your photos always seem so serene, beautiful, peaceful.........away from all the trash of the city. in your past photos, you have made me believe in a clean, beautiful world again. these photos have brought me back to reality again.......and the way some have chosen to destroy their world. hard to believe someone would take a hike to spray paint something. after all, there are always trains going through every town for all those graffiti artists to enjoy. sigh........... i thank you for cleaning up the photos you have previously posted. but i also thank you for allowing me to see how it really is sometimes.
be blessed my dear friend,
regina
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What a coincidence that you posted about this and these pictures. My family and I went walking on the Silver Comet Trail yesterday and saw trash in the stream, graffiti on signs like that. Not this bad, but bad enough. We also saw a railing knocked down. I dont know what is wrong with people that they have to tear things up, things that are beautiful and there for everyone to enjoy. Its so sad. I have some pictures I am going to post today of our walk, but I tried to avoid the graffiti, but maybe I shouldnt. Maybe I should post like you did, to show what some people do to parks.
12/22/07 3:18 AM
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