The federal government wound to a halt Tuesday night, but it mostly kept national parks open.
“Park roads, lookouts, trails, and open-air memorials will generally remain accessible to visitors,” a shutdown plan released by the National Park Service said.
Sites that collect entrance or camping fees can use those funds for “basic visitor services.” But, otherwise, the parks will be staffed by minimal workers and won’t offer information to visitors, educational programs, trash collection or road maintenance. Buildings or areas closed off to the public during off hours will remain inaccessible.
About 64% of the 14,500 agency staff are expected to be furloughed beginning Wednesday, according to the plan.
National park advocates – including 38 former superintendents – had urged the government to close parks to the public, saying keeping them open with skeleton crews would be a recipe for disaster.
John Garder, the senior director of budget and operations at the National Parks Conservation Association, pointed to the last government shutdown during President Trump’s first term, when some parks were open to visitors.
“We saw human waste and trash building up, we saw vandalism, and all of those things are not sustainable,” he said.
A Government Accountability Office report later said it was illegal to use fee revenue to keep the parks running.
The National Park Service said this week that if visitor health or safety issues arise during the shutdown, “the area must be closed.”
But Colorado’s Democratic Governor Jared Polis was on board with keeping national parks open.
“Rocky Mountain National Park is a major draw for visitors from around the world, especially now during leaf-peeping season, and a major economic driver for Colorado’s rural communities,” he said in a statement Tuesday, noting he was willing to use limited state funds to keep the state’s biggest park fully operational.
Under the shutdown plan, states, tribes or other third parties can enter into agreements with the Department of the Interior for donations to keep parks open with more services. Colorado, Arizona and Utah have done this in the past. Arizona Gov. Kathy Hobbs said this week she did not plan on dedicating state funds to this purpose.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio and KJZZ in Arizona as well as NPR, with support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
