Bronco owner vandalizes Moab rock during Bronco Safari; UBC helps with restoration

[RoLyMa27]

Some people think stacking rocks is defacing trails, some people don't. I placed a small memorial Rock for my dead mother on a beautiful trail once, and got flack for it.

I'm not saying what they did was ok, But it's not crucifying material. They didn't throw their trash out on the trail, they didn't dump a bunch of oil out on the trail, They didn't leave huge rubber tire mark on a rock.

Who here hasn't picked up a rock and written something in their life at some point?

Based on all the reactions before I looked at the article I expected them to spray painted a big FU Jeeps or something.

Some people believe you shouldn't be allowed on the trail at all. Some people truly believe Earth is flat. Some people think bigfoot is real.. Common sense is a rare commodity these days!

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[Gladdox]

Dang, so many people quick to judge and demonize this family. A little kindness, patience and understanding goes a long way.

This may come as a shock to some, but "leave no trace" is not exactly common knowledge and is, as others have pointed out, a nebulous concept at best. Many people would not immediately equate this to vandalism, especially in a world where so many family vacation spots actively encourage people to make their mark or leave something behind/take a souvenir. And it's obvious there was no malicious intent here.

Now, was this a teachable moment? Yes. But did the family do the right thing once their error was made known? Yes. I'm actually impressed that they took accountability, contacted the appropriate agency, paid the fine, admitted their lapse in judgement, issued a sincere apology, and promised to do better. That is the correct response.

Equally impressive? Families who still spend time together. Teenagers who actually know cursive. People humble enough to admit their mistakes.

 

[Aurongel]

It’s pathetic what self-serving things people will do for the Gram.

Especially given how it would be trivially easy to Photoshop text onto a rocky surface to achieve the same result.

 

[indio22]

My dad would have whipped my ass. Then he would have made me clean it up and if I said anything while cleaning it he would have whipped me again.

Guess what? I've never done anything like that... Just the knowledge of what would happen and my parents sense to teach us kids how to treat our National Treasures was needed.

I'm going to sound like an old "get off my lawn" person, but it's true. There are not enough real consequences these days with young people, to help prevent that type of behavior. It starts with the lax parenting but has also carried over to institutional policies.

My wife is a grade school teacher, and says consequences have gone out the window. Detention and suspension is largely a thing of the past due to policy changes, and misbehaving kids are put right back in class. Parents are typically of little help.

Yesterday at the school, a kid who has been a terror all year, threatened a girl with scissors. Finally that got him suspended - for a piddly two days. When admin called the kid's father to talk about the situation, the father hung up on them. Sadly, the schools will be churning out a good deal of troubled kids thinking they can do whatever the want. Some of this could possibly be headed off earlier with intervention, but not enough of that is occurring.

 

[Ggerobb]

Finn family sucks 2023

 

[1st 75th ranger]

Bad look for us, but nice job Richard and Steve. I ran into both down there and Steve spotted me up Hell’s Gate, great guy.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2023/05/16/rock-defacement-near-moab-causes/

they are filthy animals not just poor judgment
arrest them sue them make them pay

 

[ths0002]

It's paywalled for me. Did they scratch that in or was it chalk? We had people write on the side of our building with chalk for some high school senior photos. They left it, and I got to clean it up. People don't realize chalk takes more effort than rain to get off and act like they can do it everywhere.

 

[Marko1970]

Some people think stacking rocks is defacing trails, some people don't. I placed a small memorial Rock for my dead mother on a beautiful trail once, and got flack for it.

I'm not saying what they did was ok, But it's not crucifying material. They didn't throw their trash out on the trail, they didn't dump a bunch of oil out on the trail, They didn't leave huge rubber tire mark on a rock.

Who here hasn't picked up a rock and written something in their life at some point?

Based on all the reactions before I looked at the article I expected them to spray painted a big FU Jeeps or something.

I'm with you. Natives and pioneers drew on rocks and it's considered history. I don't want to encourage people to deface public property, but in the grand scheme of things, what was done there was pretty small potatoes.

 

[Toccoa]

Bad look for us, but nice job Richard and Steve. I ran into both down there and Steve spotted me up Hell’s Gate, great guy.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2023/05/16/rock-defacement-near-moab-causes/

 

[Nellman]

Dang, so many people quick to judge and demonize this family. A little kindness, patience and understanding goes a long way.

This may come as a shock to some, but "leave no trace" is not exactly common knowledge and is, as others have pointed out, a nebulous concept at best. Many people would not immediately equate this to vandalism, especially in a world where so many family vacation spots actively encourage people to make their mark or leave something behind/take a souvenir. And it's obvious there was no malicious intent here.

Now, was this a teachable moment? Yes. But did the family do the right thing once their error was made known? Yes. I'm actually impressed that they took accountability, contacted the appropriate agency, paid the fine, admitted their lapse in judgement, issued a sincere apology, and promised to do better. That is the correct response.

Equally impressive? Families who still spend time together. Teenagers who actually know cursive. People humble enough to admit their mistakes.

I will agree with you on certain things like cursive, family out together and owning up to mistake. I however have to disagree completely on leave no trace and proper way to treat the environment we are in.

How many people here would not post about some newbie who went out and got stuck, rolled over, etc while off roaring for not doing some basic learning first? This is no different. There have been several stories in recent years about this and similar stories of writing, rolling, breaking rocks.

I have never been to MOAB but I imagine there are places to stop and get information. I know there are places you can call to get information. We all know of the greatest place for information is the internet. If part of a group that group needs to be found at fault if they don't cover very basic principles like leave no trace.

This year in order to operate a UTV you have to take a course to be allowed to ride in Utah. This was because of people not doing there research first. It doesn't take much, I bet within 30 minutes you could find what not to do with no previous outdoor experience. How much planning goes into a trip like this? Even in a group. You don't just say hey let's go to MOAB with no planning and if you do you don't you deserve everything that happens?

I would encourage all groups, this one included, to help educate new people to the sport. This could help with more restrictions happening in the future. The groups who want less off roading are much more organized then motor sports participants are. This is a huge issue and everytime this happens it makes it easier for them and harder for everyone else.

Just look at how many times motorized vehicles have been restricted due to anything attributed to them. A big one was all U.S. Forest Service land being closed to motorized vehicles unless posted open instead of open unless posted closed. If you don't know about this go and look at motor vehicle use map (MVUM). Yes you can drive on USFS land but you have to be on an actual trail as listed on the MVUM. BLM is still open unless posted closed, we don't want to lose this.

 

[Nellman]

I'm with you. Natives and pioneers drew on rocks and it's considered history. I don't want to encourage people to deface public property, but in the grand scheme of things, what was done there was pretty small potatoes.

Native Americans also had no internet, paper, etc to write on and keep history. This is completely different.

If someone did this to your paint on your vehicle how would you fix it? Repaint the vehicle probably, add bondo or similar if deep into the metal. How do you remove this from a rock? Remove more of the rock. How many times before this completely changes the rock. How long before this cause a lawsuit that closes the trail?

If this is something we and future generations want to be allowed to do we need to more strict against this bad behavior. MOAB has lost trails in recent history due to bad behavior. Before you get lax on bad behavior go look what areas around you are closed now vs two or three decades ago. What causes those closures?

 

[AJKitebrder40]

This screams pretentious, ooh look at us we are the Finn fam, not a good look for Bronco owners.

 

[omi205]

Might as well just dump your trash out the window at the point. People think that others actually want to see some random family name on a rock. The world doesn’t revolve around you “Finn fam”. This type of behavior should be shunned and embarrassed while being done. Like if you see people doing that. Call the police, park ranger, whatever. Document the license plate. Take some pics. And report it all. Do not try to fight them or physically stop them. That could harm you. People these days are crazy and everyone thinks their robo cop with their “glock”.

 

[FoxFour281]

Native Americans also had no internet, paper, etc to write on and keep history. This is completely different.

If someone did this to your paint on your vehicle how would you fix it? Repaint the vehicle probably, add bondo or similar if deep into the metal. How do you remove this from a rock? Remove more of the rock. How many times before this completely changes the rock. How long before this cause a lawsuit that closes the trail?

If this is something we and future generations want to be allowed to do we need to more strict against this bad behavior. MOAB has lost trails in recent history due to bad behavior. Before you get lax on bad behavior go look what areas around you are closed now vs two or three decades ago. What causes those closures?

That's how it has become in my neck of the woods. Many of the forest roads have been closed because of misuse. It's easier and more effective to shut a trail down then to send a crew our to maintain it.

 

[drbandkgb]

Clearly the mom wrote that.. She has her Facebook locked down now and I’m assuming has taken lots of heat on this.
I like how they threw a kid under the bus lol

either way Bronco has brought a lot of new people to the off road world so things like this can happen. I would hope bronco safari is discussing topics like this before trail rides

I bet the Finn clan will not gravity up any more National areas

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