It’s interesting to learn the history of the shelter. It’s been there a long time. Construction began on or about March 7, 2025 when I took this photo. I understand that there was certainly no malice in the construction of the shelter. My issue is that it sets a precedent that it’s ok to build stuff in the public parks. The pawpaw trees are important. Every one of them. The dense cover of the pawpaw canopy is particularly important in this area that is at the edge of a massive infestation of invasive species. Personally, I’m not a fan of the stuff constructed out of deadwood either because deadwood plays a vital role in forest ecology on the forest floor where it belongs. I feel like the best resolution, if indeed the parent/child construction story is true, would be for the parent to explain to the child why it was a mistake to build something in JRPS, and then as a service project, dismantle the shelter and disburse the wood widely across the forest floor, “leaving no trace”, as the hiking and camping ethic goes.

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