A national park in New Mexico shared a cautionary story online after a visitor left a packet of Cheetos on a trail, warning that it could have caused significant chaos.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park, located in the Guadalupe Mountains of southeastern New Mexico, is renowned as a natural wonder.
With over 119 caves and deep rocky canyons, this hiker’s haven is also home to desert wildlife such as cougars, bats, and cave swallows.
Last year, the park’s officials used their Facebook platform to remind tourists to remove their trash, emphasizing the potential harm to native animals if garbage is left behind.
On September 6, 2024, a statement was posted on Carlsbad Caverns National Park’s Facebook page after an explorer dropped a chip packet in the area known as the ‘Big Room’.
The Big Room is the largest cave chamber by volume in North America, with dimensions of nearly 4,000 ft long, 62 ft wide, and 255 ft high.
In the post, it was highlighted that everything on Earth shares the same air, and even small actions can have significant ripple effects.
The message began: “Here at Carlsbad Caverns, we love that we can host thousands of people in the cave each day. 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 described how the processed corn, softened by the Big Room’s humidity, created an ideal environment for microbial life and fungi.
Insects such as cave crickets, mites, spiders, and flies reportedly began to form a temporary food web, distributing nutrients to the cave and its formations.
“Molds spread higher up the nearby surfaces, fruit, die, and stink. And the cycle continues,” the post added.
“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.
“Great or small we all leave an impact wherever we go. Let us all leave the world a better place than we found it.”
Though the individual responsible was not identified, the national park announced that its rangers successfully removed the ‘foreign detritus’, safeguarding the cave’s ecosystem.
Consider this a reminder for your next cave adventure; keep a firm grip on your snacks, or perhaps wait until you’re done exploring to enjoy them.
If you’re able to hold off, of course.