By Justine Lofton of mlive.com- September 13, 2019

If you’ve been to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore - or any other place - and carved your and your sweetheart’s initials into a tree, we’re looking at you.

The Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Facebook page is scolding tree carvers for damaging the ecosystem in the park. A post on Wednesday, Sept. 11, is complete with a picture of a love message - “D+N 4eva” - carved into a tree trunk.

“Are you and your special someone ‘4 eva’?” the post asks. “We are so glad you are enjoying the beauty of the national lakeshore together. Help us keep the park looking as beautiful as it was when you visited by not carving message(s) of love on our trees. Protect our ecosystems for future generations -- that is to say, 4eva!”

Tree carving makes trees vulnerable to pathogens, an official with Friends of Trees told Oregonian Live. It’s similar to a cut to human skin, said Andrew Land, neighborhood trees specialist.

“Trees can heal most efficiently from proper pruning cuts made at a branch collar by compartmentalizing, which forms a doughnut-shaped callus over time,” Land told Oregonian Live. “Random cuts in the trunk’s bark heal far more slowly, if at all, leaving the tree open to pests and diseases.”

Pictured Rocks is known for its multicolored sandstone cliffs that tower over Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It also features over 100 miles of hiking trails, beaches, camping and more. Park entry is free.

During 2018, Tahquamenon Falls State Park asked people to stop stacking rocks along the river, saying it was damaging the environment, particularly for the stoneflies that rely on the rocks for their habitat. The bottom of the fast-flowing Tahquamenon River is filled with flat sandstone rocks that people were stacking like elaborate Jenga towers, leaving their “artwork” for other tourists to admire.

To read the original article and see related reporting, follow this link to the mlive.com website. https://www.mlive.com/news/2019/09/pictured-rocks-is-scolding-people-for-carving-in-its-trees.html