Creating a clean slate
When state parks are defaced with graffiti, volunteers work to eliminate it
For Sean Cornell, reading the layers of sediment at 540-million-year-old Hammonds Rocks is like reading a good book. Each layer and fold tells a story, so when the rocks nestled in Michaux State Forest got tagged with graffiti, Mr. Cornell said it was like tearing chapters out of a history book.
That’s why Mr. Cornell, an associate professor of geology at Shippensburg University, is helping efforts spearheaded by the Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation to clean up 37 graffiti hot spots primarily on natural features across the state.
Last year, when Mr. Cornell brought his physical geology and sedimentary geology students to Hammonds Rocks to teach them how to read the Cambrian age rocks, he said the vandalism was like a slap in the face not only to people today but also future scientists, students and even families who want to enjoy nature.
For this reason, Marci Mowery, president of the foundation, has spent much of the past year
traveling to different parks and forests in the state to lead cleanup efforts to help “reconnect people to the areas.”
Aside from ruining the view, graffiti can make an environment feel unsafe, which isn’t conducive to families in particular.
“Every inch of the rocks was covered with layers of graffiti, spray paint, offensive drawings and words,” Amanda Trimmer, public relations and outreach coordinator for the foundation, said of Hammonds Rocks when volunteers got to it in May 2016.
Though a July cleanup at McConnells Mill State Park in Lawrence County was much less intimidating a task than the five days it took to tackle the 6,500 square feet of graffiti at Hammonds Rocks, it still took about three hours for five volunteers to make the paint disappear.
Armed with buckets of cleaning agents with the brand names of Elephant Snot and the World’s Best Graffiti Remover, Ms. Mowery showed volunteers how to first apply the material and then scrub and wash it off.
She spread the slimy, green materials onto a large peace sign painted on the top of Cleland Rock, her seventh work site, urging volunteers to be frugal with the removers. One costs $60 a gallon and the other $345 a gallon.
In all, $34,000 has been spent on cleanup efforts and at least 530 volunteer hours have been filed in the past year, Ms. Trimmer said.
But just removing the mess isn’t going to stop the problem, Ms. Mowery said.
Since the initial McConnells Mill cleanup was completed late last summer, seven people were caught vandalizing the area, said Officer Todd Ottinger, a forest ranger with the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for Michaux State Forest.
And the age of those apprehended isn’t what you might expect, he said.
Five adults — the oldest being 41 — were prosecuted and the two juveniles caught are still going through the court system, Officer Ottinger said.
He attributed much of the authorities’ success to the creative use of technology as well as community policing, adding that he noticed an increase in the general public’s presence at the forest since the cleanup.
Doug Hyp, a steward and member of South Central Pennsylvania Climbers, went to four cleanups over the past year and said after the first one, he was hooked.
Mr. Hyp, of Gettysburg, used his climbing skills to rappel off some of the 30and 40 foot-high points at Hammonds Rocks to get to the harder-to-reach graffiti.
“It was just kinetic honestly; there was so much common energy because everyone has such a common goal,” he said. “It created instant camaraderie. Everybody loved the gift that God’s given us.”
Mr. Hyp, who has been climbing for 21 years, said the graffiti can affect climbers in particular because not only can it make hand and foot holds slick, but often times it’s accompanied by broken glass bottles that can endanger climbers.
As a parent, Mr. Hyp said the content of some graffiti — profanities and graphic images — is especially concerning when he brings his young sons climbing with him.
When his oldest son, who is 10, came to one of the cleanups, he said he tried to turn the mess into a teaching moment about respect.
“You don’t need to be a climber to see an awe-inspiring cliff and realize it’s a gift,” he said. “Every rock tells its own story and the more we can take care of them now, the better off everyone is going to be.”