A thaw in political brinksmanship that allows the partial government shutdown that's been in effect since before Christmas to be lifted might have come in time to save an estimated 25,000 Longleaf pine seedlings at Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas.

The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation is paying for National Park Service staff members to reopen the Visitor Center in Asheville, North Carolina, at milepost 384 on the Parkway for three weekends. The center will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. this weekend and then Friday through Sunday, February 1-3, and again February 8-10.

Ask people to name the most iconic buildings in the United States, and they will probably rattle off some usual suspects—structures like the Chrysler Building in New York City, Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia, the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, or the Capitol Records Building in Los Angeles. Ask them to describe the national parks, however, and chances are architecture won’t be the first thing that leaps to mind. Yet the national parks also contain many notable works of architecture, ranging from rustic and rough-hewn to modern and sleek.

On average in January, nearly half a million people visit our national parks every day. This year, as a result of the federal government shutdown, now the longest in our nation’s history, park-goers have been greeted not just by nature’s majesty, but by mounting piles of garbage and human excrement—fruited plains indeed. During previous government shutdowns, national parks have been closed to visitors, reducing the risk of temporary and permanent damage incurred without full staffing and services. This time, however, the parks remained open—and American citizens and policymakers alike must now take swift and decisive action to combat the potentially disastrous results.