Joshua Tree National Park is an incredible vast wilderness in Southern California where two distinct desert ecosystems, the Mojave and the Colorado, come together in a land sculpted by strong winds and the occasional torrential rainstorm. The natural beauty is breathtaking but there has been an issue in recent years of visitors who feel it necessary to leave their mark on the masterpiece that Mother Nature has produced.
Graffiti in JTNP has spiked since the advent of social media with visitors vandalizing trailhead signs, campsites and some case the very rocks that make the park so special. Park rangers closely monitor and quickly mitigate spray paint on rocks with a variety of methods including a product called Elephant Snot, a specialized graffiti remover designed for use on porous surfaces such as concrete, brick, stone, and masonry. The chemical mixture penetrates the rock surfaces, loosens up the paint and can be washed away with careful pressure washing.
We appreciate the work park rangers do to keep the graffiti at bay but we wish this job didn’t exist in the first place. In an effort to stanch the outbreak of graffiti in the park, Joshua Tree set up a special email for people to report when they find it. If you see any instance of graffiti, you are asked to email jotr_graffiti@nps.gov. Joshua National Park encompasses a total of 795,156 acres (making it slightly larger than Rhode Island) so please provide a detailed description of its location, ideally photos and GPS coordinates, in order to insure a rapid response.
Joshua Tree National Park:
If there’s something weird, and it don’t look good, who you gonna call…
As the saying goes, “take only photographs, leave only footprints.” Unfortunately, not everyone follows this advice. Despite the efforts of dedicated volunteers, who also act as “Graffiti Busters” vandalism diverts resources that could be better spent elsewhere and seriously impacts our natural spaces. The complexity of cleanup can vary depending on the method of defacement, ranging from simple to extremely intricate.
We encourage visitors to report any graffiti they encounter by emailing jotr_graffiti@nps.gov. Additionally, graffiti reporting forms are available at park visitor centers and entrance stations. When reporting graffiti, please provide a detailed description of the location. Including photos and GPS coordinates will help ensure a quick response.
The park is a magical and unique landscape. Your vigilance helps preserve its natural beauty.
How to use Elephant Snot on rock surfaces: