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UPDATE: National Park Staff Furloughed, Park Visitors Largely On Their Own

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Rangers were not available Saturday to remove trees downed on the road leading to the Hoh Rain Forest in Olympic National Park, according to NPCA/NPCA photo

Editor's note: This updates with a photo from Olympic National Park of trees down on the road to the Hoh Rain Forest.

As Saturday dawned, the government was shut down, most National Park Service personnel were furloughed, and visitors to the parks were largely on their own. No fees were collected, many restrooms and visitor centers were closed, but concession operations were in business.

Whether any visitors would get into trouble -- a couple at Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area got lost last weekend and stayed out overnight in single-digit weather with the Park Service fully operational -- some groups were voicing concern that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's decision to keep the parks open while most Park Service personnel were sent home was dangerous.

While the government was shut down on Saturday, national parks remained open while most National Park Service employees were furloughed.

"There is no substitute for National Park Service staff and their expertise, and it is not wise to put the public or our park resources at risk by allowing for half-measures to keep them open," said Theresa Pierno, president and CEO of the National Parks Conservation Association. "And yet, that’s exactly what the Department of Interior is asking park superintendents to do. Keeping parks open with virtually no staff is a risky situation, and the guidance park staff is being given is vague at best."

At the Sierra Club, Jackie Ostfeld, associate director of the Outdoors Campaign, said,"(T)he reality is that our parks can’t operate without the Park Service. Keeping them open without staff is dangerous for both visitors and for the delicate ecosystems in our parks. Risking both visitors and important cultural sites to win political points is the height of irresponsibility. But it shouldn’t surprise anyone to see this administration put our parks at risk - after all, this is the same administration that wants to double entrance fees and shut out low-income families from our national parks, all while proposing massive budget cuts to the National Park Service.

“Trump may have escaped a few bad headlines today by keeping parks open through this irresponsible and damaging government shutdown, but the millions of people who love and enjoy our national parks every day won’t forget all the damage done to our public lands by this administration.”

Some problems were noticed across the National Park System, where rangers were not immediately available at Olympic National Park to remove trees downed on the road to the Hoh Rain Forest, said representatives of the National Parks Conservation Association.

NPCA staff estimated that "approximately a third of our 417 national park sites are now completely closed, including places like Ford’s Theatre, the Statue of Liberty, presidential homes, and other historic and cultural sites primarily made up of buildings that can be locked. Other park sites will remain semi-open, and what is accessible to the public will differ from park to park."

"More than 21,000 Park Service employees are being furloughed during park closures," noted NPCA's John Garder. "Thousands more contract employees and small business owners will also be affected. That leaves a 3,298 'essential staff' to manage 80 million acres of national park lands, from Acadia to American Samoa to Zion."

Different parks were handling the shut down differently, and with some interesting impacts. At Everglades National Park in Florida, for instance, the fish cleaning station was closed, but the boat launches were open. Backcountry camping was allowed, but on a first-come, first-served basis, and no permits were being issued, which could create some problems.

Opinions on the impact of the shutdown, and who was responsible, ran the gamut on Traveler's Facebook page.

"Who misses rangers when they dress like cops and act like cops? Law enforcement has no place in the parks," wrote Chad Emery.

But Jeff Darren Muse wrote, "Think about more than a snapshot. Whenever you visit a national park — be it one with a natural emphasis, cultural, or otherwise — you visit a place that represents a long history of struggle and success with stewardship. Stewardship for this and future generations — the heart of the Organic Act of 1916. Geologists and biologists and archeologists are part of that history. Firefighters and trail crew and resource specialists are. Law enforcement officers. Emergency responders. Interpretive rangers and educators giving formal programs to families and school groups, or informal activities in visitor centers, at bus stops, near trailheads. Wilderness rangers combing through permits and working to keep the backcountry, well, the backcountry. Maintenance staff!

"This shutdown is a big deal," he went on. "If it’s short, not too big. If it drags on, parks and other public lands will be threatened. The primary threat? Taking them — and their preservation — for granted. You don’t just save a place once. You have to save it over and over and over again. That’s what these employees do. With partners, of course. With the public. For now, get out there, enjoy yourself, please look after the place. No other country in the world has this remarkable heritage."

And Judi Staab pointed out that, "Just remember those of you who disrespect our hard-working rangers, they are also the ones who have to fish your boiled carcass out of the boiling water when you disregard the danger signs in Yellowstone, pick up your mangled body parts when you are in a climbing accident or taunt a bison, and haul you out on a litter from the backcountry. Don't think they're getting paid the big bucks and they are living in substandard park housing with little or no insulation and no a.c.

"Just sayin'! Good luck out there today! Hope you don't need a ranger!"

Traveler footnote: If you're out in the park system during the government shutdown, please share your experience in comments to this story. Did you miss Park Service rangers, did you encounter any issues?

Comments

People visit, camp and otherwise recreate in millions of acres of non-Park National Forest BLM and other state and federal lands without an NPS staff to hold their hands.  Visiting the Parks today is no more dangerous than visiting those other lands every day of the year.  


I guess it's play time for Drone opperators.


This comment brings up another question:  What happens with the BLM and Forest Service staffing during the shutdown?  In some BLM-managed areas such as the Imperial Sand Dunes (Glamis) in CA, this is the prime recreation season.  Which employees will continue to work and which are furloughed?  At Glamis, it is not just the law enforcement personnel who keep relative order in this congested OHV recreation area, but the recreation and maintenance staffs.  Same thing at NPS areas like the Grand Canyon.  For example, other Park employees, including Naturalists (who presumably are subject to this furlough) assist law enforcement in giving out safety information to visitors and keeping them inside safety railings at popular viewpoints along the Grand Canyon's rim.  Hopefully this government shutdown doesn't cost the lives of any public land visitors.


Well, Grand Canyon NP is open.  I've heard that the State of Az., local businesses and the town of Tusayan is funding operations to keep the doors open.


In some cases you will find Law Enforcement Rangers working, as 'essential personnel'.

 

If you ask them you will also find out that they are working without pay, essentially on a promise that they will be paid some day for what is mandatory work now.


At the Sierra Club, Jackie Ostfeld, associate director of the Outdoors Campaign, said,"(T)he reality is that our parks can't operate without the Park Service. Keeping them open without staff is dangerous for both visitors and for the delicate ecosystems in our parks. Risking both visitors and important cultural sites to win political points is the height of irresponsibility. But it shouldn't surprise anyone to see this administration put our parks at risk - after all, this is the same administration that wants to double entrance fees and shut out low-income families from our national parks, all while proposing massive budget cuts to the National Park Service.

Again,  this is what Ms. Ostfeld is expected to say. We should be asking this. If the National Park Service is to remain apolitical, how is that best accomplished? Note her inflammatory language against the president. Does she (or the Sierra Club) think this really helps?

Thirty-seven years ago, when Ronald Reagan appointed James Watt as Interior Secretary, environmentalists kept a sense of humor. When Watt, for example, predicted the second coming of Christ, I said yes. And Jesus would take Watt over his knee and give him a spanking, then send him straight to bed without his dinner. The newspapers rippled with humorous political cartoons--hundreds of them. We got the point across without denigrating the president.

Now? Okay, Mr. Trump is "asking for it." At least that is what we have learned to say. The problem is: We have learned to say it all too well. We don't want a solution; we rather want absolution that only what we say rings with truth.

The truth here is closer to EC's comment that we are asking (expecting) government to do too much. In Switzerland, if you fall off the mountain you had better have arranged beforehand for some private company to come to your aid.

Here, apparently nothing about the parks was dangerous, delicate, or irresponsible until Mr. Trump came into office. I do believe there is a lesson to learn from the Swiss. If you want to come, you take the risk, in which case we will no longer have to denigrate any of our poliitical leaders for not holding our hands and wiping our face.


"Risking both visitors and important cultural sites to win political points is the height of irresponsibility. But it shouldn't surprise anyone to see this administration put our parks at risk "
It is this kind of hypocrisy from the Sierra Club (among others) that I no longer donate.
The sad truth is that whatever decision was made the Sierra Club and everyone else on that side of the aisle would find cause to be critical of those on the opposite side of the aisle. It does highlight who really cares for the parks and who just uses them for fundraising and political gain. Perhaps instead the Sierra club could get out there and roll their sleeves up and help clean up and do some policing. No, they would rather issue grandiose statements.
As for the panic over people not being able to take care of themselves, have we really fallen that far? I have the upmost respect for most of those working in the parks and in particular search and rescue but perhaps a little return to self reliance and responsibility wouldn't be such a bad thing.


As I mentioned on another site, when this shut down first became imminent--I've been visiting some of the busiest national parks for sixty years, and have seen the changes, good and bad. It's nice for visitors to have fancy visitor centers, with guided tours, nature walks, kiddy programs, etc. etc., all of which require personnel to pull them off. But I grew up visiting the parks when we were lucky they had one ranger to man the visitor center, if there was a visitor center, and one handling the campfire lectures and so forth. Sometimes, they did double and triple duty, emptying trash bins and servicing restrooms, too. 

The point I'm making is that the parks could temporarily shut down all those routine visitor activities that require extra staff, including the visitor centers, and still use their skeleton crew to oversee the essential needs of the park. And visitors can still enjoy the park by using their eyes and ears and park brochures to aid them with the different attractions--just like we used to do. At least temporarily. Of course, we're dealing with a generation of visitors that have a completely different mindset of what visiting the national parks is about, so they wouldn't know what to do without the extra-curricular activities to entertain them. But limited activity is doable, as long as everyone cooperates and behaves themselves.

Having said that, I think Potus, and all of Congress, should be ashamed of themselves for using the shutdown of public services like the National Park system, and threatening people's Social Security or other essential services, as weapons for their own failure to cooperate with each other.  That way, they can defend their inactions by blaming the other guy, thus advocating this nasty political war between the dems and reps, both in the government and in the public forum.  I have no respect for politicians who can't seem to find their backsides with both hands in daylight, let alone in the dark.


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