Someone cut through Big Sur’s Calla Lily Valley

Tourists hoping to photograph the Calla Lily Valley, one of California’s most Instagram-famous blooms, were greeted by an unusual sight last week. Instead of walking through bright white petals, they were met with decapitated lily stems, apparently cut down in the cover of night.

D San Francisco Chronicle reported that on February 25, someone cut off the flower heads of all the flowers in the Calla Lily Valley. Kevin, who declined to give his last name, told the publication that he was visiting the area on February 26 when he noticed the flattened vegetation.

The social media-famous canyon, usually filled with white lilies, sits in Garapata State Park, north of Coastal Highway 1. Big tone

Mike Dippel, head ranger for the Monterey State Park District, said SF Gate Visitors to the park told officials on March 2 that the white flowers usually seen in the valley were nowhere to be found.

“It looks like someone got rid of all the lily flower parts with scissors or gardening tools,” Dippel said SF Gate. “They didn’t dig into the ground and rip out the whole tree. They just cut off the tops.”

Calla lilies usually bloom in early January and bloom in late April. Greg Tyner, who works at a nearby nursery, told a local news outlet The Tribune Because the plant’s bulbs are not removed, they will likely survive and bloom again the following year.

Rangers are still searching for a motive, but Dippel suspects the removal may be linked to the plant’s environmental conditions. The calla lily is a non-native, invasive species of California. D Department of Agriculture His website states that the flowers are native to South Africa and were introduced to the United States in the 19th century.

Alternatively, Dippel said destruction could be a symptom Local frustration with over-tourism. The picturesque valley has exploded in popularity on social media, dramatically increasing traffic, parking problems and environmental degradation of certain stretches of coast.

“It’s just that there’s a lot of visits coming in, and I don’t know if that was a motivation for cutting flowers,” Dippel said. SF Gate. “I ran into several park visitors who were pretty upset. There was a couple from Oregon who came down to see the valley and they walked up there and saw the whole thing had been cut down.”

Dippel said that whatever the reason, he was saddened to see the lilies gone and wished those involved had expressed their grievances to the state park first, whatever they were.

“Maybe we could have come to a decision other than to go down there, whoever it is, and cut them off,” he said. SF Gate.

Cutting flowers or other vegetation without permission in a California state park Against state law. The offense is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 90 days in jail, a $1,000 fine, or both.