Biscayne National Park wades into rogue Twitter controversy

In the midst of controversy about rogue tweets from national parks, South Florida’s Biscayne National Park appeared to wade into the kerfuffle this week.

After a retweet from the National Park Service Jan. 20 about the crowds at President Donald Trump’s inauguration and tweets from Badlands National Park’s Twitter account earlier this week about climate change created a social media frenzy, Biscayne National Park’s Twitter account appeared to get a wave of new followers.

“Welcome to all of our new followers! We’re thrilled you found us for whatever reason, so get out, explore and #FindYourPark!” tweeted the national park, which is located in the Florida Keys.

“[Y]ou know why we’re here. Keep up the fight,” a Twitter user who identified herself as Pam Enlow tweeted in response, punctuating her message with a raised fist emoji.

The park’s official Twitter account responded: “We will @Pammywhamm Biscayne NP was established almost 50 years ago after a long-fought battle for protection by ordinary citizens like us!”

Biscayne National Park could not immediately be reached for comment, but if the National Park Service’s experience is any indication, Biscayne could be headed for trouble. The day after the Park Service retweeted side-by-side photos showing fewer people at Trump’s swearing-in than had attended Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration, the new president ordered the acting Park Service director to find more photos of the inauguration crowds, according to the Washington Post, in the hopes that the photos might show larger crowds than what the media had reported.

The backlash did not appear to dissuade other Twitter users, however. At least 40 new but unofficial “alternative” accounts for federal agencies have sprouted up on Twitter, according to the Associated Press.

This story was originally published January 27, 2017 at 3:03 PM with the headline "Biscayne National Park wades into rogue Twitter controversy."