National park rangers highlight ‘world changing’ impact of litter

It’s been said time and time again: don’t litter. That rule is especially important for the more uninhabited areas of America. Now, a new social media post by national parks rangers is highlighting why.

Rangers with Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico shared a photo of an empty Cheetos bag left behind in what’s known as the “Big Room.” The only thing visitors are allowed to bring with them into the caverns is plain water to not attract critters that don’t belong there, so the litter is also dangerous to the ecosystem.

Rangers say this single Cheetos bag can be world-changing for the cave .

The processed corn in the chips was softened by the humidity of the cave, creating the perfect environment microbial life and fungi. That attracts bugs, which then take the microbes and fungi to other parts of the cave, and they spread, which can become a big problem that is “ completely avoidable .”

Carlsbad Caverns rangers say it took them 20 minutes to carefully remove the Cheetos bag and molds from the caverns’ surfaces.

The Big Room at Carlsbad Caverns National Park was formed millions of years ago and is the largest single cave chamber by volume in North America.

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