V&T Trail Painted Rock Garden removal by private citizen sparks potential Carson City Rock Policy discussion
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Fri, 07/22/2022 - 10:27am
During the pandemic, people across the U.S. found new ways to be creative and active while many events and venues were shut down — especially for children.
One such activity that gripped a small hiking community in Carson City was painting rocks. While this might seem odd to some, rock-painting has become a nationwide activity throughout the past decade or so, but no time more so than during the pandemic.
Those within the painted rock communities will decorate small to medium sized rocks and “hide” them throughout a community for people to find, snap a photo, and either re-hide for someone else to find, or take them home!
Near the V&T Trail, the impromptu rock garden started small: a few painted rocks near a concrete wall, away from the natural areas but where those hiking the trail could admire them. Quickly, the few grew to several, and then many.
“During the pandemic, people were looking for alternative activities to keep their minds active and have creative outlets, and many people were painting rocks with hopeful messages and putting them along a section of the V&T Trail,” said Parks and Recreation Director Jennifer Budge. “This was a paved section near a concrete wall, not out in nature, a very developed portion of the trail.”
A homeowner near the trail even set up a small table with paint, brushes and rocks so children could paint their own rocks before they went on the trail.
At its peak, the number of rocks placed beside the trail grew to several hundred. That is, until a private citizen independently decided to remove all of the rocks, stating that they felt the rocks were “graffiti” and did not belong on the trail, according to Budge.
While the city currently has no stance either way on painted rocks, they will be opening the topic up for discussion at the next Carson City Parks, Recreation and Open Space commission meeting so community members can have their say.
“We did not provide guidance either to put the rocks there or to remove them,” said Budge. “To our knowledge, the rocks weren’t creating a safety issue and there were no concerns that we were aware of. But this is one of the reasons why we wanted to have this discussion; it’s a nationwide issue and it’s called the Kindness Rocks Project.”
According to Budge, with rock-painters leaving their art across the nation, many park systems have created policies in relation to painted rocks, from national parks to state parks all the way to local park systems.
“Maybe we could provide a designated rock garden location,” said Budge. “We definitely do not want them out in nature, park rangers really do try to provide ‘leave no trace’ concepts, but I think they could add a lot of joy and comfort.”
The intent was to have the discussion during the last commission meeting, but time ran out due to discussions regarding dog ordinance proposals.
“I think the intent of it is very kind and generous and trying to keep people engaged in something especially during the pandemic,” said Budge. “Perhaps it got a little much since there were several hundred in the end, but that just shows how passionate people were about the activity and how much they enjoyed it.”
The majority of people who have spoken to the city regarding the painted rocks were in favor of it, while there were a few who opposed it, stating they did not think it was appropriate.
“That’s kind of the feedback we would like to hear from the community and to discuss whether or not we should create a policy,” said Budge.
Budge encourages the community to contribute their opinions on the painted rock topic during the Aug. 16 meeting at the Carson City Community Center, or by sending public comment to publiccomment@carson.org
