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

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.  

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.

I've no wish to join this useless political debate, but wild places should know that the Sierra Club has a history many decades long of doing exactly what he suggests:
https://content.sierraclub.org/outings/trip-type/service-volunteer

I worked with many types of volunteer groups during my NPS career and the Sierra Club folks were tops at Wilderness revegetation and by far the most dedicated, discliplined and productive vols, year after year.

Government shut down due to Trump?  Are you that ignorant or do you think we are?  The shutdown is 100% on the Democrats who have more concern for illegal immigrants than for US Citizens.  They voted no because Shumer told them to and he told them to because he wanted DACA.  DACA has nothing to do with the government funding/budget.  One can have disagreements about immigration policy but holding out the funding of our government over illegals is the definition of irresponsibility.  

In Washington, the higher elevation roads to Paradise and Hurricane Ridge are closed, but the remainder of Mount Rainier and Olympic are open, despite snow at lower elevations.  Previous commenters have mentioned government 'hand-holding'.  I'd recommend no visitor hand-holding either, since restrooms are closed at both parks!

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article195766229.html

Brian, I thought I was pretty clear.  The point is that there are many other lands where people recreate that have the same animals and same dangers as the National Parks.  They are different only in designation. The visitors tothese  lands don't have NPS Rangers "holding their hands" and for the most part do just fine.  People in the National Parks during they shutdown, won't have Rangers to hold their hands and there is no reason to believe they can't handle themselves just as well.  

White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said this on Sean Hannity's radio show yesterday:

"Obviously, I'm heavily involved in this, Sean, is that the Office of Management and Budget is charged with, you know, sort of implementing running a shutdown.  In fact, I found out for the first time last night that the person who technically shuts the government down is me, which is kind of cool."
 
Mulvaney was a member of the House during the last shutdown and says he was a leader of "shutdown caucus" that led to that mess.  
 
Isn't it comforting to know that we have morons like this one helping the Moron in Chief?
 
It would be wonderful if we could empty D.C. of ALL incumbents in both parties and replace them with intelligent people.  Maybe elect an all-female government.  They seem to be much more sensible because they lack testosterone fueled egos.
 
We need to remember this when the next elections roll around. 

Yes Kurt, there are SARs in non-NPS lands just as the are in NPS lands.  Heck there have been books written about deaths in the National Parks while well stocked with Rangers.  That is why I said "for the most part".  People will do stupid or dangerous things with or without Rangers.   In my opinion, the lack of paid rangers in the parks is unlikely to have a material impact on visitor safety.

I don't need a Ranger to "hold my hand" in the parks (tho I've seen a few that I wouldn't mind holding hands with). They have often added to my enjoyment of a park as they share tips on neat trails, out-of-the-way spots for good photos, and where the wildlife hot spots are at the moment. And the visitor centers usually have exhibits, books, maps, etc. that add to the experience. That being said, it is still perfectly possible to enjoy a park visit without these extras. And I hope most of us are mature enough to act sensibly and obey the rules even if the ranger isn't on duty. BUT, what I worry about is those among us who do not have any respect for nature or cultural heritage. I remember a man walking out in Harbison Meadows with his toddler son, intent on getting up close to a moose despite a bunch of us along the road yelling at him. Just as the moose started bobbing his head, a ranger drove up and hastily intervened. I worry about idiots who think their initials are as vauable as ancient Native American petroglyphs, or who think pushing over balanced rocks is some kind of fun. Yeah, that happens when the rangers are working, but I suspect the threat of being caught actually does deter at least some of the vandalism and stupidity.

What is apparent are the differences between this shutdown and the last one under Obama.  This one seems to mitigate the difficulties to a degree rather than the previous one making it as difficult as possible.  Is it just me or are there accomodations that were not apparent in Obama's shutdown?

As far as the road debris Im betting 9 out of 10 locals in that neck of the woods would routinely be carrying a chainsaw and have it cut up and loaded in short order.

Rhetorically, both sides are pointing at the other. All I know is that this time the Republicans own the House, the Senate, and the GOP President who is supposed to be the calm head in the middle is apparentkly playing with his breakfast cereal. Headlines I've seen this morning with smiling politicians only talk about another temporary solution through February 8th. Jed Bartlett did much better.