Snow Canyon State Park officials are looking for information on vandals who spray painted an “extensive section” of sandstone” near White Rocks.
A volunteer trail steward with the Friends of Snow Canyon recently reported the vandalism to park headquarters, a news release from the park said.
“Visitation to the park has steadily increased every year for the past 10 years,” Snow Canyon State Park Manager Kristen Comella said in the release. “Unfortunately, so has the rate and type of vandalism. What at first appeared to be a small area, has turned out to be an extensive section of white Navajo sandstone.”
The vandalism spans more than 10 meters, officials said, and it is unclear when the area was spray painted.
Spray paint is “one of the most difficult types of vandalism to remove from rock surfaces,” the release says, often requiring power tools to sand or grind off the paint and permanently altering natural features.
It‘s also an expensive and time-consuming process, the release says.
“I’m not sure what is more shocking,” Comella said. “The fact that these vandals showed a total disregard for the natural beauty of the canyon or the fact that they hiked several miles armed with spray paint, in what was a very deliberate act.”
The first of multiple cleanup efforts is planned for late November, the release said, citing safety concerns in the rugged terrain.
Anyone with information on the vandalism is asked to contact park officials at 435-628-2255 or by email at snowcanyon@utah.gov.
“We encourage all park visitors to travel lightly and leave things as they find them,” Comella said. “It would be a shame if visitors 50 years from now experienced a canyon full of spray paint, names carved in rock, glow sticks, and garbage.”