Historic Barker Dam in Joshua Tree National Park is off-limits to the public after vandals etched dozens of names and words onto the surface of the 113-year-old concrete structure.
Park officials are trying to figure out how to restore the dam without causing further damage.
“We are currently talking with conservators,” said Caitlyn Marrs, an archaeologist for the park.
The problem is that simply scraping off the etchings, such as “Brooklyn + Joel,” also could erase some of the dam’s history. The surface has wood-grain imprints that were made when wet concrete was poured into wooden forms as the dam was built. The imprints help tell the story of dam construction techniques of the time, Marrs said.
“It makes me sad,” said David Lamfrom, California desert manager for National Parks Conservation Association. “It says something about not having the perspective to know the long-term repercussions of our actions. … This is harming both history and the future.”
Marrs said the vandalism was discovered in January but apparently had been occurring for weeks. The theory is that someone etched names on the dam late last year, and others saw it and figured it was OK to add theirs, she said.
The dam is closed 130 feet upstream from the structure and 180 feet downstream, though the nearby Barker Dam Nature Trail remains open, according to the National Park Service.
The dam spans 150 feet across a creek bed not far from the park’s Hidden Valley campground.
The lower nine feet of the dam was built by C. O. Barker, a cattleman, around 1900, according to a federal database of historic places. The family of Bill Keys, who lived at the nearby Keys Ranch, raised the height of the dam 50 years later and gave it a different name. An inscription reads, “Big Horn Dam Built by Willis Keys, W.F. Keyes, Phyllis M. Keys, 1949-1950.”
The dam is historically significant because it illustrates how cattle ranchers obtained and stored water for their livestock in the arid landscape. It also helps tells story of the nearby Keys Ranch, now part of the park and site of regular tours for visitors.
Today, Barker Dam holds back water among a jumble of granite boulders. Bighorn sheep and other wildlife drink there when water accumulated behind the dam.
Vandalism, including graffiti spray-painted on rocks at campgrounds and other high-use areas, is becoming more of a problem as the park gains popularity. The part draws about 1.4 million visits a year, up from about 1 million in 1990.
The park service hasn’t decided when or if Barker Dam will be reopened to the public.
“Right now we are focused on trying to find ways to repair it,” Marrs said.
Lamfrom added, “The question we are getting to here is, ‘How do we replace something that is irreplaceable.’”
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