For many people, spring is the best time of all to stroll through the woods. Wildflowers begin to appear. Wildlife is active. Mild temperatures draw people to the outdoors.

Apparently, it’s also a favorite time for young drivers to head for Riverside Natural Area and tear the place up. In the last couple of weeks, the road into the park and the loop around the park were turned into a mud bog by at least one driver of a pickup truck.

Spinning tires chewed into the mud and created a soupy mess that made entrance into the park almost impossible.

Conditions have dried off enough that only one area is impassible now for a regular vehicle. Most of the mud bogging fun is over, but that’s both good and bad news. This means that trucks and motorcycles have returned to driving off the road, crushing the small trees that students planted in recent years and creating ruts down the sides of the hill.

An Earth Day project is planned at Riverside April 24, with the dedication of a new sign and a stream search project for students. That’s when the old park used for a variety of purposes over the decades will have visible recognition as a natural area—a piece of wild land contained within the city.

We hope the park is in good shape for the event and we suggest that park visitors can help in that regard. We urge residents to notify police if they observe destruction at the park—or any of the city’s parks.

As it is, a very small number of people are spoiling the area for their own destructive fun.