A simple bag of forgotten Cheetos in the heart of Carlsbad Caverns became a clear lesson about how the smallest gestures can alter the biggest ecosystems.
This complex, declared UNESCO World Heritage site, is the home of the Great Hall, the largest underground cave in North America, a little bit more than an hour walking down the surface. There, finding a snack was enough to disrupt the cave delicate ecosystem.
The National Park Service, from the United States Department of the Interior reported the incident as an example of how human action as small as they seem, can break the balance of a fragile ecosystems like this one.
According to Xataka, the package was detected in the Great Hall and was linked directly to a burst of microbes, fungus and insects. This is extra energy in a system conceived to work with only the necessary. In caves-this underground ecosystems with slow rhythms and isolated for millions of years from the outside world-an unexpected calorie intake is not passing by without detection, it disrupts immediately.
And this lesson goes beyond frontiers: Lascaux Cave, in France, lived a similar alert when the tourists pressure altered the microclimate and put at risk the prehistorical paintings.
What happened under the surface?
In ecosystems like the Great Hall, the constant humidity and the still air transform any new nutrient in an open invitation. The processed and humid corn from the Cheetos gave exactly what the cave-dweller microbes, fungus and insects need to multiply.
That’s how a new artificial alimentary chain is born, overexposed to a system that evolved slowly with short resources and long cycles. In the words of the NPS “The mold spreads to nearby surfaces, fruits, and other organic matter, leaving behind an unpleasant odor. And the cycle continues.” The problem is not puntual or just aesthetic, is about ecology.
Once installed, this source of food can push the ecosystem to a new balance, more instable, less diverse, and most importantly: difficult to undo. The park rangers acted out with a very detailed cleaning to remove the Cheetos bag and eliminate the cold before the damage was structural.
Waste and human pressure in protected spaces
That bag of Cheetos is a clear symbol, not a rare coincidence. According to Xacata, every year, more than 300 millions of people visit national parks in the U.S. Generating close to 70 millions of tons of trash.
That volume hurt any ecosystem, but it hits especially strong the underground ones. The isolation that protects them is also their Achilles heel: indigenous species highly delicate that evolved with little disturbs. Add foreign nutrients and you will get a buffet! But that’s not it, you still would have to add multitudes and the human body heat, and the humidity and the carbon dioxide that can misplace the chemistry and balance of the cave.
Admiring without altering
Lascaux Cave discovered in 1940 and know for their painting with more than 17.000 years changed when tourism was opened in 1948. The visitors modify the microclimate, they add humidity, carbone dioxide, and the temperature changes promoted fungus. All of this endangerd the art so they closed it to the public in 1963 and limited the acess only to the scientists.
Yes… it sounds like what it would happen to Carlsbad Caverns in people don’t take better care for the ecosystem.
Admiring is good but it can damages what we love with the wrong footprint. Loving is caring, and taking care of a cave is being aware of the risk it’s exposed when we go visit it.
In words of the organization: “Big or small, we all leave an impact wherever we go. Let’s leave the world a better place than we found it.”