Like a slowly toppling row of dominoes, areas around the National Park System are closing to the public during the ongoing government shutdown because of the absence of maintenance crews to deal with garbage and human waste. At Joshua Tree National Park in California, officials also said resources were being damaged by visitors "driving off road and other infractions."
Without maintenance crews on the job to empty vault toilets and collect trash, Joshua Tree officials said that all their campgrounds would close for overnight use at noon Wednesday because of health and safety concerns.
"I want to extend a sincere thanks to local businesses, volunteer groups and tribal members who have done their best to assist in picking up litter and helping maintain campgrounds," said Superintendent David Smith. "This is no reflection on their efforts, and the park is very fortunate to have a community that exhibits the kind of care and concern witnessed over the last week.”
Joshua Tree's Indian Cove and Black Rock campgrounds will be open for day-use, but will be closed at sunset. Additional closures include Lost Horse Mine Road "due to illegal activity and Rattlesnake Canyon in order to reduce the number of search-and-rescue events for rangers already spread thin due to the government shutdown." The release did not specify the illegal activities, and efforts to reach staff were not immediately successful Monday.
Across the state, another part of Yosemite National Park has closed due to human waste issues, and rangers were citing people who enter any of the park's closed areas.
National Park Service officials in Washington, D.C., a year ago developed a contingency plan for keeping parks open in the event of a government shutdown. However, that document doesn't specifically address how parks should handle overflowing restrooms away from concessions operations while maintenance crews are laid off.
Commercial or CUA operators may donate resources to provide trash collection and similar essential visitor services in areas that remain accessible to the public during a shutdown if doing so will allow the concession to remain open.
Areas being closed in the parks are not tied to concessions. The latest closure was the Hetch Hetchy area of Yosemite that officials closed to the public on Sunday "due to lack of restrooms and resulting impacts from human waste." A release also said that visitors who enter closed areas of the park, which also include the Wawona and Hodgdon Meadow campgrounds as well as the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, are being cited by rangers.
"Yosemite National Park is very busy with limited services," park staff added in a tweet. "Unless you already have a reservation and places to stay, if possible, consider planning a day-use-only trip to the park after the holiday week has ended."
A rundown of what areas in the National Park System are open and closed can be found in this story. An addition to that is the closure of Old Maverick Road in Big Bend National Park in Texas until further notice "due to resource impacts occurring in and around Santa Elena Canyon trailhead closure." Additionally, at Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah a donation from the Bryce Canyon Natural History Association will keep park's visitor center open (8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) at least through January 10.
"If you’ve already made plans to visit the park, please know that we are working shoulder to shoulder with the National Park Service and local partners to provide a safe and memorable visit," said Gayle Pollock, CEO of the history association. "This is an exceptional time of year to experience the natural solitude and stunning snow-covered rock formations that make Bryce Canyon a world-renowned destination.”
The General Store and Sunset Motel portion of the Bryce Canyon Lodge inside the park will also remain open through January 1. Both Sunrise and Sunset Points will remain accessible. Inspiration and Bryce Points as well as points to the south will not be accessible. North Campground remains closed.
Traveler footnote: Since few parks are providing updates on their operations, if you're aware of other closures please add them in a comment to this article.
Comments
so the law enforcement rangers are being paid But not the others?
Unfortunately, the headline isnt "Hetch Hetchy closes in preparation for decomissioning of dam and emptying of reservoir." :)
NO one is being paid. Certain activities are allowed to continue which is why law enforcement staff and emergency services staff, and those who must keep utility systems working are still on-duty with no certainty of back pay, but there is no clear exemption under the antideficiency act for trash collection and road maintenance. Personally I think that both this adinistration as well as the Obama administration stretched the exemption to the screaming point in order to reduce the amount of political blowback over the shutdown. Maybe if real impacts were experienced we'd be less likely to have one. No park law enforcement. Federal reservations having their water and sewer systems shut down. All FBI agents furloughed. All contracts cancelled. Etc.
Grand Canyon restrooms were open but quickly deteriorating Saturday. Obvious abuses of car traffic and parking on shoulders during the shutdown which led to dangerous traffic conditions.. Lake Mead area restrooms were clean and trash was well maintained on Sunday.
Mesa Verde National Park is closed due to the presence of snow and ice on the road. The closure will be in place until the road conditions are safe, or until the shutdown ends.
Arches and Canyonlands NP are now closed due to snowfall and the expiration of state funds to keep them open.
After Teddy Roosevelt enacted the National Park Protection Act, they had to bring in the army to chase out those who had defiled the parks. Now more than 100 years later, one president has done more damage to our great national parks than all those stupid tourists who insisted on carving their initials on trees and rocks and driving over the meadows. Hetch Hetchy reservior is closed because of contamination lby human waste. Hetch Hetchy supplies San Francisco wiwth its drinking water. We should have listened to John Muir who opposed the damming up of the valley. We need a Teddy Roosevelt
I am currently visiting Death Valley. All campgrounds are closed in Death Valley at this point due to sanitation issues. Other sites are closing one by one for the same reason. Artist's Drive closed as of Monday morning due to human waste. The are many areas where people have driven off road through the desert and left deep tire tracks. The nonprofit that supports Desth Valley has donated funds to keep the visitor's center open temporarily.