National Park Service employees have a real problem on their hands at Utah's Arches National Park, and they say it's only been getting worse.

Some visitors to the eastern Utah park recently etched graffiti into Frame Arch, one of the famed arches along the trail that leads to the iconic Delicate Arch. Park staff noticed the graffiti last Saturday. About six feet of the red rock arch was vandalized, park superintendent Kate Cannon told Reuters.

“There has been an enormous problem with graffiti in the past couple years,” Cannon told ABC News, adding that arch and canyonland vandalism is common at parks across the country.

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<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/ht_nps_graffiti_01_jrl_160429_12x5_1600_0.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0" srcset="https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/ht_nps_graffiti_01_jrl_160429_12x5_1600_0.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 400w, https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/ht_nps_graffiti_01_jrl_160429_12x5_1600_0.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 800w" > A sampling of the recent graffiti at Arches National Park. (Alice de Anguera/National Park Service) (Alice de Anguera/National Park Service)

Making this sad story even worse is the fear that the recent damage to Frame Arch may not be reversible. The words "Staten" and "Andersen," along with the year 2016, were carved so deeply into the rock that the traditional tools used to remove graffiti may not be effective in this situation, according to the Huffington Post. Park officials will attempt to fill the carvings, but there's a risk that the repairs won't hold and may do additional damage to the arch, the report added.

"In this case, we are going to try filling them but that may still be quite visible if we can't get the color exactly right, and it may not be sustainable," Cannon told Reuters. "There's really no way to fix graffiti of this sort."

Cannon also said they don't have any suspects yet, but the park has asked anyone with details to contact the national park.

Vandalism at a national park is punishable with up to six months in jail and fines as high as $5,000, the Huffington Post reported.

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