"Leave Only Footprints," Rangers Plead

"Take only pictures. Leave only footprints," has long been the slogan of the Leave No Trace movement, in an effort to persuade users of public lands not to abuse the nation's forests and parks. For years, Volcanoes National Park rangers have pleaded with visitors not to take away volcanic rocks as souvenirs. Now, they are begging people not to leave anything either. According to an Associated Press report, "rangers at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park are launching a program to stop people from leaving religious offerings at the summit of Mount Kilauea -- including food they say attracts rats and cockroaches."

Park officials say that some 45 pounds of unwanted "offerings" must be removed from Halemaumau Crater each week. These include flowers, bottles, money, incense, candles and crystals, but the problem is food that well-meaning visitors leave for Pele, the goddess of fire. The report continued,"One ranger recently found a whole, cooked piglet replete with a papaya, orange and apple in a cardboard box...The rotting offerings pose a hazard to the endangered nene goose, the state bird endemic to the islands, the park service said."

Many years ago on the island of Bali, I saw offerings everywhere, including in front of shops every morning and on the hood of my rental car. A Chinese tradition is burning fake money to assist the deceased in the afterlife. Freelance fires are illegal in Volcanoes, as in virtually all national parks.

The national park has always been a leading attraction on the Big Island of Hawaii, increasingly so since Kilauea began erupting, continuously, on January 3, 1983.