Corona Arch, near Moab, is a mile-and-a-half hike from a parking area. Pinto Arch and Bowtie Arch are along the way. Imagine a nice spring day in southern Utah and a pleasant walk through wild land, public land – your land – administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
A gorgeous day in red rock country – what the HELL is that guy DOING?
Corona Arch. Doesn’t seem to need graffiti.
He – a grown man – was carving graffiti into the base of Corona Arch.
People asked him to stop. He didn’t. When he was finished chipping “18” for the date and “R ♥ J” for his all-important FEELINGS, he posed with his wife and 3 children for a photo in front of his vandalism. It is also alleged that he sent two teenagers back to the parking lot to switch the plates on the group’s trucks (presumably to confuse the issue for anyone trying to identify them).
But! Social media. One of the people who saw this, and whose request to stop was ignored, posted on Reddit, with photos. One was a distant shot of the guy chipping away, his wife looking on. The other showed the family posing for their picture, captioned, THIS GUY VANDALIZED A NATIONAL PARK FOR A FAMILY PHOTO. (The kids’ faces were blurred out.) He also sent the photos to the National Park Service (who probably sent them to the BLM, since Corona Arch is near but not in a national park).
Reddit commenters were angry and disgusted. They called him a poo poo head and worse. The story hit local newspapers, TV, and more social media. People recognized the beaming vandal. Brad Kendrick recognized the stone-carver as Ryan Andersen, owner of Andersen Hitches in Idaho Falls. “I recognized him the minute I saw his picture,” he told the Idaho State Journal. “I thought, ‘He can’t just do that to a national monument.’” He reported the identification to the Post Register.
Also, Rebecca Winstead of Logan, Utah, posted about this on Facebook. She was shocked by the willful damage to the arch. “If they want to carve their name on the side of their house, all the more power to them, but they wouldn’t because that would be a blemish on their house,” she told the Moab Sun News. Someone contacted her privately, saying he was worried her post wasn’t accurate. But when she sent him a link to the group photo, he recognized them and gave Winstead their names, which she forwarded to the BLM.
Andersen’s business started getting outraged calls – and a whole lot of negative reviews. Eventually Andersen posted this apology:
A message from Ryan & Jen Andersen
Dear friends and concerned citizens,
I am very sorry and embarrassed for my recent actions when visiting Corona Arch in southern Utah. While hiking in the Moab area with my family, I drew with a sandstone shard, a heart with my and my wife’s initials and the year above it.
Gouging away. The important thing is that I love my wife.
At that moment, I foolishly thought I was conveying my love for my wife when, in fact, I was tarnishing the experience for others who also want to enjoy magnificent scenery. My actions were wrong. I am extremely sorry for my conduct. I acted in the spur of the moment and did not stop to think about what I was doing.
Sometimes, our biggest mistakes can lead us to become better people. From now on, I will endeavor to leave no trace and help to protect our public lands. As part of that commitment, I have pledged to pay for the BLM’s work to restore the damage I caused. I have also pledged to work with the government to speak out on this issue so others do not make the same mistake that I made. I truly believe that all of us have the responsibility to help ensure that our public lands remain pristine.
I accept full responsibility for my actions. Neither Andersen Hitches nor its hard working employees, who are committed to supporting our loyal customers and their own families, had any involvement in my wrongdoing. To those dedicated employees, I offer my sincere apologies. Going forward, I will do everything I can to show my employees, my community, and the public at large that this conduct is not what I stand for.
Sincerely,
Ryan Andersen
Please understand that my wife and I have wanted to come forward and make a statement from early on, but because the BLM still has an active investigation going on, we felt that we should wait. We have been cooperating with the BLM and await their decision.
I was in the wrong.
Help me make this right.
I have upset a lot of people. I am disappointed in myself too. But I want to make this right. If you would like to leave a comment or you can message me directly here with any suggestions you have for additional work I can do with the BLM or similar groups please do so.
At first it seems like a good apology, one that names what he did, uses the word ‘sorry,’ takes responsibility, and pledges his intent to make things right. It’s cool that he gives people a way to communicate with him. But it has some serious flaws.
From another angle. Nope, still doesn’t need graffiti.
Although it says it’s from both of them, it’s in the first person, and says nothing about any responsibility Jen Andersen may have. She stood by while he did it, even when people asked him to stop.
“I acted in the spur of the moment” says nothing about people asking him to stop. It says nothing about the alleged license plate-switching.
He pledges to pay for the BLM’s effort to restore the spot he vandalized. But he committed a crime, still under investigation. If, as the Idaho State Register reports, the penalty for such a violation could be as much as $100,000 and a year in prison, we’re fairly sure that he’ll have to pay for restoration, pledge or no pledge. (We have mixed feelings about his offer to do a speaking tour – would he be wearing shackles? Because that could be effective.)
Yeah, he accepts responsibility, but not “full” responsibility. Is he waiting to see what he gets charged with before he admits to anything more?
SorryWatch wonders why the hell people do this. Why walk a mile and a half to a wonder of nature and deface it? We can understand that he feels a surge of love, and wants to express it. That’s nice. But MAYBE IT COULD BE THEIR LITTLE SECRET. Or, as Winstead suggested, why not use the side of his own damned house?
Check it out! It’s etched in stone that I love my wife. Don’t care about the rest of you, though.
It’s a case of the “tragedy of the commons” – On public land, he feels like he has rights but not responsibilities. He thought he could get away with degrading everybody’s landscape. Wrong. There are laws. Public land is free for anyone to enjoy, not free for anyone to trash.
Maybe we’re lucky he didn’t get chiseling “Andersen Hitches employees are the hard-workingest!” But then he would have been caught even sooner.
I would like to see an apology from our elected president for even Thinking of giving Bears Ear National Park to the oil people. That’s just an ugly thing to want to do.
Bears Ears was never a National Park. It was and still is a lot of wilderness lands only frequented by off-roaders. Obama made it a National Monument which gave it unneeded publicity and recognition when the public heard it is covered with Ancient Puebloan ruins and artifacts to plunder. There never were, and never will be enough employees to protect the land. Some of the land was reopened to control by the state of Utah. Over 1/3 of the land remains designated wilderness lands which is off limits to motorized vehicles or mining. If any one needs to make an apology, it would be the President that gave it the unwelcomed notoriety it did not need.
I see several problems:
-“…spur of the moment…” It took too long for that to wash.
-“I drew with a shard of sandstone…” Makes it sound like he is trying to suggest it will just disappear quickly. In which case of course it would not require costly restoration.
– The refusing to stop when requested too. Not even addressed.
-The switching plates. Also not addressed.
Really does sound more like “Sorry I got caught.” than “Sorry I did it.”
I hate that he keeps calling it a mistake. Whenever you go on public lands, there are always signs telling you not to litter and not to damage the space. And he lives in the 21st century, where we people are routinely raked over the internet coals for exactly this kind of thing. Also, people specifically told him to stop. If he had wanted to commemorate this, he could have taken a hand-made sign and held it up for the picture. He didn’t have to carve his name onto the rock. But then, as my grandmother used to say “Fools’ names, like fools’ faces, are often seen in public places.” And I hope he gets fined the whole amount and thrown in jail.