The partial government shutdown, which deprived many federal employees of their first paycheck this week, has claimed some new victims: several of the signature spiky-leafed Joshua trees at Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California.

A skeleton crew of workers has remained at the park, which is larger than Rhode Island, during the shutdown, but they have struggled to maintain order among its otherworldly rock formations and vast stretches of desert.

Park officials issued a statement on Tuesday that said the park had suffered “sanitation, safety, and resource protection issues” since the shutdown began on Dec. 22. That included the destruction of an unspecified number of the Dr. Seuss-ian Joshua trees that are frequently photographed (and Instagrammed) by its visitors.