The government agency overseeing all 63 of the country’s national parks has previously released statistics showing that it sorts through an average of 70 million pounds of garbage a year, while a spike in visitor numbers post-pandemic has exacerbated the problem.

A bag of Cheetos gets dropped and left on the floor. Seems inconsequential, right? Hardly. Rangers at Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southern New Mexico describe it as a “world-changing” event for the tiny microbes and insects that call this specialized subterranean environment home.