VANDALISM AND OUTDOOR RECREATION: symposium proceedings PACIFIC SOUTHWEST Forest and Range Experiment Station FOREST SERVICE. U. S.DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE P.O. BOX 245, BERKELEY. CALIFORNIA 94701 USDA FOREST SERVICE GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW- 17 I1976 Alfano, Sam S., and Arthur W. Magill, technical coordinators. 1976. Vandalism and outdoor recreation: symposium proceedings. USDA Forest Serv. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-17, 72 p., illus. Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Exp. Stn., Berkeley, Calif. Resource managers, law enforcement officers, designers, and social scientists provide 24 papers giving an overview of vandalism on outdoor recreation areas; a measure of the difficult control problems which must be solved; some insights for design of buildings, fixtures, and site layouts to reduce or repel vandalism; and a profile of vandals, with respect to the potential for reducing their activities through understanding of social-psychological factors. Recommendations prepared by panelists and symposium participants summarize the views presented and suggest measures for control of vandalism on outdoor recreation areas. Oxford: 907.2:U 343.22. Retrieval Terms: outdoor recreation areas; vandalism; law enforcement; design; social factors. Technical Coordinators SAM S. ALFANO is recreation staff officer, Los Padres National Forest. He earned a bachelor of science degree in forestry in 1954 at Utah State University. His work in outdoor recreation began on the Angeles National Forest in 1957 and he also served on the Sequoia and San Bernardino National Forests before his assignment to Los Padres in 1966. ARTHUR W. MAGILL is principal resource analyst in the Station's Land Use and Landscape Planning Methodology Research Work Unit, assigned to study of resource impacts, human behavior, landscape analysis, and urban forestry. He holds degrees in forestry from the University of Washington (bachelor of science, 1957) and the University of California, Berkeley (master of science, 1963). He joined the Station staff in 1957. VANDALISM AND OUTDOOR RECREATION: symposium proceedings Sam S. Alfano Arthur W. Magill Technical Coordinators CONTENTS Page Preface ............................... 1 Recommendations ........................... 3 The View from the Field Vandalism~AnOverview. ...................... George A. Kenline Vandal ism on the Santa Lucia District ............... John Blake Vandalism on the Mt. Pinos District ................ James Hunter Vandalism in Desert Areas ..................... Mike Wintch Vandalism in the Channel Islands National Monument. ........ Ronald W. Sutton Vandalism in California State Parks ................ Thomas Killer Vandal ism in a City Park. ..................... Richard Samp Vandalism in Organized Camps in California. ............ Patrick C. Dickson Law Enforcement Vandal ism and Law Enforcement on National Forest Lands. ...... Thomas A. Hoots Vandalism: The California State Park Approach. .......... Jerry Morrison Page Vanda1ismat"RedRock" ...................... 25 John C. Einol ander Law Enforcement and Vandalism in Our National Parks ........ 27 Nicholas Whelan A Magistrate's View of Vandalism. ................. 29 Willard W. McEwen CreativeJustice. ......................... 30 Glenn Hampton Design and Vandal ism The Designer as the Vandal. .................... 34 Michael Morrissey Control of Vandalism~AnArchitectural Design Approach. ...... 35 John Grosvenor Design of Campground Facilities .................. 37 Briar Cook Des ign vs. Vandal ism. ....................... 39 Arthur C. Danielian Preventive Planning to Reduce Vandalism .............. 42 H. Ernest Reynolds Socioloqy of Vandalism Vandals Aren't All Bad. ...................... 46 Michael L. Williams TheMessageofVandalism. ..................... 50 Arthur W. Magill A Psychoanalytic View of Vandal ism. ................ 54 Robert J. Sokol Vandalistic Forest Fire Setting .................. 58 William S. Folkman Control of Vandalism in Recreation Areas~Fact, Fiction, or Fol klore? ............................. 62 Roger N. Clark PREFACE Vandal ism is taking an increasingly big destruct ion wrought by "phantom" vandals and bite out of the funds needed for protection of "types" of vandalous acts. Vandalism is and maintenance of recreation facilities in variously described as littering; disturbing southern California. The problem is not the peace; damaging or destroying vehicles, limited to the southern portion of the State buildings, or other property; starting wild- or even to Cal ifornia as a whole~itexists fires; chopping down or mutilating trees and nationwide. In 1974, $1.5 million was spent shrubs; theft; and defacing objects with to correct vandalous damage and littering on graffiti. Managers have tallied the costs of the 17 National Forests in California, but vandalism, and they have been innovative in $7.5 million was the cost to the entire Na- dealing with the problems, but they admit to tional Forest System. Agencies other than a lack of sound solutions that are general ly the Forest Service are also paying the cost applicable. They are seeking assistance in of vandal ism. The Cal ifornia Department of effective control of vandals. Parks and Recreation reported $87,000 worth of damage in 1975, but because considerable Resource managers work closely with law vandalism goes unreported, actual annual enforcement officers. Unfortunately, catch- costs have been estimated as high as $180,000. ing a vandal is not simple, for all too The U. S. Bureau of Land Management has esti- often, the act is unobserved and the vandal mated damage as high as $250,000 per year; is gone before an officer arrives. Several although that is much lower then the Forest resource managers, a law enforcement officer, Service's costs, the Bureau has fewer faci 1- and a magistrate have expressed, in these ities and they are more widely distributed. proceedings, their frustration in dealing In general, vandal ism is increasing for with vandals. Some officers suggest stronger municipal, State, and Federal agencies as police control and others suggest avoiding a well as for private landholding companies. ''hard approach to law enforcement. Some agencies have trained resource managers to be Resource managers throughout the nation law enforcement officers, whereas other agen- are searching for the meaning behind vandal- cies do not want managers to assume the re- ous acts, hoping that through reason and sponsibility. The obviously conflicting understanding, they can find ways to stop the viewpoints strongly suggest the need for seemingly endless destruction, theft, and greater understanding and more uniform1y littering. The Outdoor Recreation Vandalism applicable approaches to law enforcement. Symposium, held March 26-27, 1976 at Santa Barbara, Cal ifornia sponsored by the Los Architects, landscape architects, and Padres National Forest of the Forest Service engineers are faced with the dilemma of de- and the Southern California Section of the signing sites, buildings, and facilities that Society of American Foresters, represents a are vandal -proof yet attract ive and serv ice- step toward an organized, interdisciplinary able enough to not invite vandalism--more approach to the search for solutions. The desirably, that are so "in tune" with human symposium has drawn upon the expertise of needs that vandalous acts do not happen. foresters, sociologists, criminologists, architects, park planners, psychologists, The sociologist-psychologist perceives landscape architects, and recreation techni- vandal ism as a social problem that is sympto- cians to define the impact of vandalism on matic of society's failure to provide for the (1) the physical resource and the user pub1 ic, basic human needs of a segment of the pub1 ic. (2) the problems of law enforcement, (3) the Unfortunately, no universal answers are avail- opportunities for control through facility able now or l i kely to be. Understanding of and site design, and (4) the socio-psycholog- the diversity of individual motivation--of ical profile of vandals and the potential for both the vandal and the manager--is a neces- social control. sary step toward discovery of diverse solutions. The "man-on-the-ground ," the recreation resource manager, daily faces the consequences By summarizing the papers of the panels of vandal ism. He usual l y regards acts of van- in each problem area, and securing audience dalism as "senseless" or "wanton" and cannot interaction, we have developed a number of understand why some people deface or destroy recommendations. facilities provided to give them pleasure. In this collection of papers, several "men- We hope that resource managers and others on-the-ground" offer their views of the will try to follow the recommendations. Furthermore, we hope they will record and Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and report successes or failures, thus giving the Society of American Foresters. Paul Rich, some measure of the results of the symposium. educational chairman, Southern Cal ifornia Such feedback will help to determine the de- Section SAP, served as symposium co-chairman. sirabil ity of future meetings, and may also The fol lowing National Forest pub1 ic informa- suggest add itional research objectives. tion officers served as panel moderators: El 1 iott Graham, San Bernardino; David A. This symposium on vandalism brought Kimbrough, Angeles; Grover Payne, Cleveland; together representatives of the Forest and Edward Waldapfel, Los Padres. RECOMMENDATIONS There are currently no universally ¥Conside