Park officials say many wildflower tourists have been well-behaved, but some have ignored pleas to stay on trails

In one of the most famous literary descriptions of wildflowers, the English poet William Wordsworth wrote in the early 19th century of happily gazing upon a host of daffodils “fluttering and dancing in the breeze”. In 21st-century California, wildflowers dancing in the breeze are being trampled by helicopter.

As thousands of sightseers descend on southern California parks for a springtime “super bloom”, officials reported on Wednesday that a couple in a helicopter landed in the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, crushing the delicate plants. They proceeded to walk around, further inflicting harm. As soon as they were approached by law enforcement officers, they scurried back into their aircraft and zoomed away.

“We never thought it would be explicitly necessary to state that it is illegal to land a helicopter in the middle of the fields and begin hiking off trail in the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve,” officials wrote on Facebook, in a post that has since been removed. “We were wrong.”

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Bountiful rains have paid off with fields of California poppy, lacy phacelia, wild parsley and western forget-me-nots among others. While many of the wildflower tourists are well-behaved, hordes of selfie-takers have quickly created traffic nightmares along city streets in nearby towns, and paid no heed to the desperate pleas of park officials: #DontDoomTheBloom.

Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve (@PoppyReserve) Officers are watching for people illegally entering the park through barbed-wire fencing, trampling flowers. It only takes a few to wreck the habitat for years to come. There are areas in the Reserve that haven't recovered from trampling in 2017.#DontDoomTheBloom #CaStateParks pic.twitter.com/V3GcCE12ip

The helicopter jaunt was illegal, and an investigation is under way.

Jorge Moreno, a spokesman for the California state parks, told CNN that trampling the plants can also pose a threat to future blooms.

“You can see the damage to the part of the trail where people stepped off,” Moreno said. “People are taking selfies with the flowers or laying on the flowers and that’s where the flowers won’t grow back.”