Bag of Cheetos had ‘huge’ negative impact on caverns’ ecosystem, NPS warns

CARLSBAD, N.M. ( KRQE ) — A bag of Cheetos that was dropped on the ground at Carlsbad Caverns National Park had a large impact on the cave’s ecosystem, according to National Park Service staff.

“At the scale of human perspective, a spilled snack bag may seem trivial, but to the life of the cave it can be world-changing,” an NPS official wrote on Facebook on Sept. 6. Staff said the bag was found off-trail in the Big Room.

The processed corn in Cheetos was softened by the humidity of the cave and “formed the perfect environment to host microbial life and fungi.”

This, in turn, attracted cave crickets, mites, spiders, and flies, which then spread the mold to nearby surfaces.

“Molds spread higher up the nearby surfaces, fruit, die and stink. And the cycle continues. Rangers spent twenty minutes carefully removing the foreign detritus and molds from the cave surfaces,” according to the post.

The park’s rules say that the only food that can be consumed in the caves is unflavored water.

Park staff encouraged visitors to be mindful of their activities to prevent things like this from happening.

“Incidental impacts can be difficult or impossible to prevent. Like the simple fact that every step a person takes into the cave leaves a fine trail of lint. Other impacts are completely avoidable. Like a full snack bag dropped off-trail in the Big Room. To the owner of the snack bag, the impact is likely incidental. But to the ecosystem of the cave it had a huge impact,” the post read.

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