'It’s not a one-time, rare event’: Hundreds of glow sticks left in Snow Canyon lava tube create multiple problems

'It’s not a one-time, rare event’: Hundreds of glow sticks left in Snow Canyon lava tube create multiple problems

(Snow Canyon State Park, St. George News)


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

ST. GEORGE — A form of vandalism took place in Snow Canyon State Park last week when an unknown person, or persons, violated park rules by taking glow sticks into one of the lava tubes along the Lava Flow Trail, leaving hundreds of glow sticks strewn about the cave floor. But more than just a mess to be cleaned up, the glow sticks can also cause problems for wildlife.

Park employees are unsure who vandalized the tube or exactly when the act took place.

The incident, while on a larger scale than most, is not an isolated incident. Groups of volunteers are needed to clean glow sticks and other trash from the tubes about once per month, park manager Kristen Comella said. The park has yet to have time to clean the cave from the most recent incident.

Those caught littering or vandalizing a state park can be charged a fine of varying amounts depending on the severity of the crime.

There are a number of park visitors who view bringing glow sticks into the cave as a tradition and see no problem with the mess they leave behind, Comella said.

“Unfortunately it’s sort of an ongoing issue, and I don’t think we can attribute it to any single group,” she said. “It’s not a one-time, rare event, but something that happens on a pretty regular basis by park visitors.”

Read the full article at St. George News.

Most recent Southern Utah stories

Related topics

Southern Utah
Mikayla Shoup

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast