The government shutdown has left America’s national parks largely unsupervised. Yesterday’s Washington Post spotlighted the impacts the shutdown is having across the country at its national parks. No one is collecting a fee, the visitor centers are closed, there is limited law enforcement and emergency personnel on site, but that’s about it. People are still visiting the parks, enjoying the free access, but at the same time, trash cans overflowing and restrooms locked except for vault toilets which are becoming filthy and unstocked of potentials. In Grand Teton National Park, interior roads are unplowed and cross country trails are ungroomed. At Yellowstone National Park, says the Washington Post article, access this time of year depends on grooming of snow-covered roads — but the National Park Service’s shutdown plan does not consider such activity to be essential; which means the private concessionaires have had to pool their money to pay for the grooming. Xanterra Travel Collection and tour operators in West Yellowstone have been ponying up for the costs. “If we don’t do this,” says Rick Hoeninghausen of Xanterra, “we’re closed.” Congressional leaders are meeting with the president today to come to some sort of an agreement over the funds he is requesting before he will sign off on the budget, but they are not optimistic for a settlement.
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