U.S. Raúl M. Grijalva, who is expected to chair the House Natural Resources Committee in the new Congress, said the longer the partial government shutdown continues the more economic damage will be done to the National Park Service as well as the tourism sector aligned with the outdoors.

Sinking morale among the National Park Service ranks and accumulating human waste and garbage are just some of the symptoms of the ongoing government shutdown that has left many national parks open but without adequate staffing. Not so visible are the impacts being suffered in long-term environmental monitoring, work on visitor management plans and environmental impact statements, and even potential setbacks to the hiring of next summer's seasonal rangers.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks were closed entirely Wednesday evening by National Park Service officials due to unsanitary conditions that were creating health and safety concerns. The two parks, in California's Sierra Nevada, are believed to have become the first in the National Park System to be entirely closed due to visitation problems since the partial government shutdown began nearly two weeks ago.

Here's a shortlist of the things we'd like to see sweep across the National Park System this year.