If you have climbed anywhere in the Mid Atlantic, chances are you’ve seen graffiti at the rock. In urban climbing areas around Washington and Baltimore, graffiti is a common source of damage to rocks.
In the last year alone, Mid Atlantic Climbers has helped remove graffiti at the following locations: Rocks State Park, Ilchester at Patapsco State Park, Carderock, Northwest Branch and Sugarloaf. With the work of volunteers at Adopt-a-Crags, MAC has made significant progress in removing graffiti from these locations.
The volunteer efforts have also been strongly supported by park rangers and land managers, who often don’t have enough volunteers to do work like this.
Park rangers at most locations have provide Taginator, a bio-degradable chemical that has proven to be quite effective at removing graffiti from rock. Volunteers were briefed on safety protocols at the start of our events. They used gloves, mask and protective eye wear while working.
Despite those efforts, there is still more graffiti to be removed, especially at areas like Northwest Branch where entire boulder problems have been covered over.
MAC is looking for volunteers to form a graffiti removal task force specifically at Northwest Branch. If you are willing to volunteer a few hours a month to work on it, email info@midatlanticclimbers.org. Training and all materials will be provided.