In The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, Season 1, Episode 5, "Become", Rick and Michonne come across a sign at Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, that reads, "Protect the park from the people, the people from the park, and the people from the people."
The idea of protecting people from other people, in light of the episode's events, intrigues Michonne. I'm curious—is this sign actually found at Yellowstone, or is it fictional but based on a real-life text, or is it purely fictional?
There don't seem to be many solid origins of this quote. The best one seems to be what @Valorum posted in their comment. This comes directly from the California Department of Parks and Recreation:
In general, I have to:
- Protect the park from the people;
- Protect the people from the park; and
- Protect the people from other people.
There is also a quote from To Everything on Earth: New Writing on Fate, Community, and Nature, which says:
a park ranger is a protector. You protect the land from the people, the people from the land, the people from each other, and the people from themselves.
I dont see any real signage or official NPS documents with this slogan, but I have seen variations of the line in other articles and quotes from people. It's possible it was included in the show based on some of these materials.
