Trees were felled in California’s iconic Joshua Tree National Park while trash and bathrooms overflowed at parks across the US during the last government shutdown seven years ago.
Now the Trump administration says it will stem the tide of vandalism, forgone maintenance, illegal camping and driving under the present shutdown — despite downsizing the National Park Service workforce by about one-quarter since January.
As the shutdown enters its third week, Democrats and park groups worry the NPS’s skeleton crews at 400-plus sites across the country are set up to fail.
Interior Secretary
“I’m concerned about safety,” Sen.
Potentially compounding the problem, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought announced Friday that federal agencies started laying off employees.
A document filed Friday in a California federal court listed eight federal agencies and the estimated number of employees—more than 4,000—who could receive layoff notices.
The Interior Department wasn’t included in that list. Interior and OMB didn’t respond to questions Friday about potential layoffs.
Cleaning the Toilets
The Trump administration’s playbook so far has been the same as during the last shutdown, which stretched 35 days over 2018 and 2019 — the longest in US history.
Keeping parks open during a shutdown is risky because most sites have far fewer employees to enforce safety protocols, protect natural resources, and maintain basic visitor services, like bathrooms.
Rep.
“The amount of abuse to the land and the trash” at parks during the last shutdown was “staggering,” said Rep.
Communication Breakdown
Individual parks have been trying to keep visitors informed about what’s open and closed, and what level of service to expect when they arrive.
The National Park Service “has well-established contingency procedures in place to ensure that communication, coordination and protection of park resources continue during a lapse in appropriations,” the press office said in a statement to Bloomberg Government. “Our teams remain in close contact, sharing updates and solutions every day to protect visitors, preserve resources and uphold the mission we all care deeply about.”
Save Our Parks, an advocacy campaign aimed at protecting national parks and public lands, created a tip line for users to submit information on damage, safety issues, and other problems they encounter on federal lands.
“We are still largely in the wait-and-see what more damage happens mode,” Jayson O’Neill, the group’s spokesman, said.
Signs of fraying already appeared around the country. The Santa Fe New Mexican reported trespassing and fears of vandalism at Bandelier National Monument, while SFGate is tracking several reservation cancellations and simmering confusion about what’s available at Yosemite National Park in California.
“Visitors are being told to check Park Service’s social media accounts, but with most staff furloughed, updates aren’t happening. We’re very concerned that visitors and communities may not be getting critical real-time updates on road conditions, facilities maintenance, and other essential information,” said Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association.
“This is where things are going to start getting tough for myself and my colleagues,” said Mark Cochran, speaking to Bloomberg Government in his capacity as president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 270, which represents the National Park Service’s northeast region.
“A lot of my coworkers are living paycheck to paycheck,” said Cochran, who typically works at Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania, currently open with fewer staff.
Cochran has been on furlough since Oct. 1. He said park staff at Gettysburg didn’t get information from headquarters about the status of the park, or who would remain working until they received furlough letters on Oct. 1, the first day of the shutdown.
“Communication from DC down to individual parks has not been very efficient or effective at all,” Cochran said.
‘Open for Business’
Barring access to outdoor areas like Washington’s National Mall or Joshua Tree can be logistically difficult. The public complains about disrupted trips to the country’s crown jewels when the government shuts down, while gateway communities and the federal government lose an important revenue stream during the closure.
“At some parks, there’s nobody to collect the entrance fee which is self-defeating in terms of financing,” said King, whose state is home to Acadia National Park, one of the country’s top 10 most-visited parks.
Yellowstone, the world’s first national park, is “open for business” in Wyoming, Sen.
“He has been very positive about their efforts thus far to handle the tourism and do it with the staff they have,” Lummis told reporters last week.
She hopes Sholly “will reach out if that ceases to be the case,” adding Sholly didn’t indicate how long he believed the park could stay open during a shutdown with the federal money on hand.
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