With the Interior Department led by a recent oil industry lobbyist and the National Park Service by a past political appointee who overlooked environmental rules to please a billionaire, we're embarking on a new paradigm for managing the National Park System, one that includes changing the rules on the fly.

Growing problems involving human waste and litter have prompted Interior Department officials to clear the way for national parks to tap fee revenues typically reserved for future projects to pay for basic maintenance and custodial needs during the ongoing partial government shutdown. The move was immediately criticized by the National Parks Conservation Association, which voiced concerns over the use of fee revenues as well as inequities involving parks that don't collect fees.

Hikers look to check off one of the most exhilarating treks in the National Park System can thank the Trust for Public Land and Washington County, Utah, officials for negotiating an extension to access across private land to journey down the 16 miles of the Zion Narrows Trail into Zion National Park.

A coalition of organizations has come up with $12,000 to provide for minimal visitors services at Zion National Park in Utah for the next week if the partial government shutdown goes on.