Washington Park Tunnel Graffiti Removal Project

542 square feet of graffiti removed from Washington Park Tunnel

In 2020, we received grant funding from REI Co-op to remove graffiti from the Washington Park Tunnel on the Tonto National Forest - Payson Ranger District. Our Dedicated Restoration Team removed 542 square feet of graffiti from the tunnel. This is a project we have wanted to complete for several years and we regularly receive requests from the outdoor community to remove the graffiti given its proximity to the Arizona Trail. Thank you to everyone at REI for awarding us this grant and for helping us make a lasting impact on Arizona’s outdoor spaces! Thank you to everyone at the Tonto National Forest - Payson Ranger District for your support of this project.

In October, we contracted 3 Veterans on our 5-member Dedicated Restoration Team and got to work on the project. Veterans working with us on this project benefited from our program not only through paid contract work but also through spending time in nature with other veterans. It was extremely rewarding both mentally and physically for the veterans on our team to accomplish this project and make a lasting impact on the state.

This was the most physically challenging project our team has taken on because there was no easy way to get our team and equipment down to the project site. We ran 1,000 feet of hoses from our water trailer down a steep draw to get water to our portable pressure washer at the project site. The hoses were run down and brought back up by Justin Corey, NR’s Director of Field Operations & Co-Founder. Our portable pressure washer weighs over 80 pounds when it’s empty and our team had to carry it down to the project site and back up along with the rest of our equipment. Thank you to Justin Ballard, Sean Brooks, & Derick Cotten for all of your hard work on such a challenging project!

Our hope is that by removing the graffiti as seen in the pictures below, fewer people will make the mistake of thinking it is okay to tag the rocks and boulders. We believe everyone should be able to experience nature without graffiti.

You can view past team projects HERE and all of our graffiti removal projects HERE.

As we you will see in the pictures below, there is still some graffiti shadowing left behind in a few places due to the porous nature of sandstone. The paint used by the individuals who tagged the rocks soaked into the sandstone and it cannot be removed completely without removing layers of rocks, which is something we do not want to do.

Please contact the non-emergency # for the area if you see anyone vandalizing public lands & please contact us when you see graffiti or trash in outdoor recreation & wilderness areas.

Washington Park Tunnel Graffiti Removal: 542 sq Ft removed

check out a few before & Afters - Click picture for full-size image gallery

View additional projects completed by our Dedicated Restoration Team HERE.

We proudly use Graffiti Removal Products and the EcoBlaster Portable Pressure Washer & Water Source from World's Best Graffiti Removers. Thank you to Adam and everyone at World's Best Graffiti Removers for all of your support over the last 4 years! You can check out our other graffiti removal projects HERE. 

If you would like to help fund projects like this, click the Donate button below will link you to PayPal. enter 'Veterans' in the special instructions and your donation will go towards our dedicated restoration team projects.

If you or your organization is interested in sponsoring our Dedicated Restoration Team and helping fund team projects, please contact us.

Thank you to everyone at REI for awarding us with a grant to expand our graffiti removal program! We would also like to thank everyone at the Tonto National Forest - Payson Ranger District for their support of this project.