Dear City of Lancaster,

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I am extremely disappointed to see the cover of your Summer 2019 Outlook magazine which depicts children frolicking off trail in the poppies. I believe this image is extremely tone deaf considering the recent events at the poppy fields.  Land managers and park rangers have been overrun in recent months by people going off trail, tramping the poppies, and damaging our public lands as is seen on the cover of your magazine. 

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I can only imagine how disheartening it must be to be a park ranger Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve who has dedicated their life to educating the public about Leave No Trace behavior on our public lands, only to see that they don’t have the support of their local community leaders and government. 

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If the City of Lancaster doesn’t respect their public lands, how can the City expect visitors to respect them?  This image sets a terrible example, and the fact that the magazine states that “No poppies were harmed” while clearly showing people trampling and harming the poppies is mind blowing to me.

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I truly hope that the City and Outlook magazine issues a public apology and provides it’s citizens and readers information about Leave No Trace principles so that during the next “superbloom” your public lands, park rangers, and land managers don’t have to continue fighting the uphill battle that you are perpetuating with this image.

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Sincerely,

Concern citizen