Mojave National Preserve — Kevin Forrester, a superintendent with the California Department of Parks and Recreation, walks inside Mitchell Caverns at Providence Mountains State Recreation Area in the Mojave Desert. The visitors center at the caverns was recently vandalized, and officials worry that the 70 other state parks scehduled for closure because of budget cuts will suffer a similar fate.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times
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Mojave National Preserve — Forrester looks for signs of vandalism inside Mitchell Caverns. At the park's visitors center, intruders cut fences, kicked doors off of hinges and shattered windows and display cases.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times
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Mojave National Preserve — Forrester is dwarfed by the huge mountainside containing Mitchell Caverns, which is part of the 5,900-acre Providence Mountains State Recreation Area in the Mojave Desert. Los Angeles businessman Jack Mitchell and his wife, Ida, opened the caverns as a tourist attraction in the 1930s and sold them to the state in 1954.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times
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Mojave National Preserve — Forrester looks at a shattered window at the rock-and-mortar visitors center at Mitchell Caverns.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times
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Mojave National Preserve — "Look at it now,” Forrester said about the site. “We’ve had to board up the windows and weld the doors shut. It’s going to take a lot of money to bring this place back to life.”
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times
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Mojave National Preserve — Vandals opened several conduits to steal thousands of feet of copper wire that was illuminating the only natural limestone caverns in the state park system.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times
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Mojave National Preserve — Forrester outside the Mitchell Caverns visitors center. Park officials estimate the damage caused by vandals at $100,000.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times
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Mojave National Preserve — A view of the desert from Providence Mountains State Recreation Area, which includes Mitchell Caverns. A memorial plaque says Jack and Ida Mitchell wanted the state to preserve the area and the caverns “for future generations to appreciate.”
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times
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Mojave National Preserve — Forrester at the park's gate.The vandalism at Mitchell Caverns has heightened concerns about possible attacks at other state parks scheduled for closure. Officials are seeking anyone with the clout and the funds to keep the most vulnerable parks from being left unguarded after they are shuttered.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times
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