{"id":3146,"date":"2019-01-17T22:10:04","date_gmt":"2019-01-18T06:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/?p=3146"},"modified":"2019-01-17T22:23:39","modified_gmt":"2019-01-18T06:23:39","slug":"national-parks-during-a-government-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/featured\/national-parks-during-a-government-shutdown\/","title":{"rendered":"National Parks During a Government Shutdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

National Park Shutdown<\/h1>\n

National Parks in the U.S.A. are usually open 365 days a year. \u00a0When legislators and the President fail to fund the operations of government, the Park Service furloughs non-essential workers. \u00a0 Usually these periods are short and the parks are open after a few days. \u00a0This year’s long shutdown left the parks open to visitors, but without staff to take care of them.<\/p>\n

The rules of behavior, laws and regulations still apply to park visitors. \u00a0Unfortunately some don’t understand the rules and others ignore them. Some people lack the ability to obey rules without the oversight of law enforcement.<\/p>\n

Here’s what happened at several National Parks this January:<\/p>\n

Yosemite National Park<\/h2>\n

\"yosemiteVolunteers came forward to help educate park visitors and clean up the mess they left behind. \u00a0Restrooms were closed, \u00a0but volunteers and contributors brought in porta potties. Trash littered picnic areas and at least one picnicker left their picnic to wander off. \u00a0This is prohibited due to the attraction this offers to bears – and no, all the bears weren’t hibernating. \u00a0Later on, a winter storm closed the park.\u00a0\u00a0Find a first person description on Vox.<\/a><\/p>\n

Death Valley National Park<\/h2>\n

Off road vehicles are going off road in closed areas and campers are camping in prohibited areas. \u00a0There are reports of off road tracks, including donuts, on sensitive areas. \u00a0This kind of damage can last decades and detract from the experience others can have in the park. \u00a0There has also been some vandalism of park facilities. National Parks Traveler<\/em><\/a> has the story.<\/p>\n

Zion National Park<\/h2>\n

\"ZionZion was in a low use period so there were few visitors there. \u00a0This offered unusual solitude for those that did make the visit. \u00a0Outside funding, some through the Zion Forever Foundation, \u00a0kept a ranger at the visitor center. \u00a0Restrooms were available and clean. \u00a0The lack of other personnel meant no backcountry or climbing permits were available. \u00a0The local sheriff was doing patrols through the park. \u00a0Get the story from the Salt Lake Tribune<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n

Joshua Tree National Park<\/h2>\n

Two to four rangers will be patrolling the park each day and the park remains open. \u00a0Like the other parks, \u00a0there is little in the way of search and rescue services if visitors get in trouble. \u00a0Vault toilets were soon full so campsites were closed. \u00a0Some people are driving off roads and there are reports of some visitors cutting down the iconic trees. \u00a0Desert Sun<\/em> has more.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Shenandoah National Park<\/h2>\n

Susan Sherman, executive director of the Shenandoah National Park Trust told Virginia Public Radio,\u201cFolks that just don\u2019t normally visit national parks are coming to national parks, and it\u2019s probably because there\u2019s no entrance fees, the gates are up, and there\u2019s a sense that there\u2019s very light law enforcement.\u201d \u00a0There has been some vandalism and theft at the park with only a few, unpaid, rangers on duty. \u00a0Volunteers have been helping with maintenance chores. \u00a0Details from Virginia Public Radio<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n

Rocky Mountain National Park<\/h2>\n

The park was closed because the snow covered roads couldn’t be plowed. \u00a0Then the Park Service decided to use funds collected for other purposes to keep the park minimally open and the roads were plowed. \u00a0Guided trips for skiers and snowshoers were cancelled. \u00a0Visitation is down and volunteers are helping with maintenance. \u00a0More from <\/a>New York Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Acadia National Park<\/h2>\n

\"AcadiaWhile there are few federal employees at work, volunteers, including the\u00a0Friends of Acadia group, are grooming ski trails and keeping roads open. \u00a0Maine Public Radio has the story.<\/a><\/p>\n

Crater Lake National Park<\/h2>\n

Facilities are closed. \u00a0The main road to park headquarters is plowed to provide residents emergency egress, but it’s closed to the public. \u00a0While some people think they can walk to the lake, it’s a long, steep, uphill trip in deep snow that requires snowshoes or skis and significant expertise in winter backcountry travel. \u00a0Don’t try it! \u00a0The road from park headquarters to the rim is snowed in. \u00a0The rim road is closed for the winter. \u00a0While you shouldn’t expect to get to the lake, \u00a0there are opportunities for cross country skiing along highway 62 in the park. \u00a0With little to no staff available you’ll be on your own in an emergency. \u00a0More from the Herald and News.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h1>\n

You get the idea. \u00a0In heavily used parks the issues are considerably more difficult than in the more remote parks. The parks that are covered in snow offer an opportunity for snowmobile access that has caused problems in some areas. \u00a0Volunteers are helping where they can.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

National Park Shutdown National Parks in the U.S.A. are usually open 365 days a year. \u00a0When legislators and the President fail to fund the operations of government, the Park Service furloughs non-essential workers. \u00a0 Usually these periods are short and the parks are open after a few days. \u00a0This year’s long shutdown left the parks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-situations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3146"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3155,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3146\/revisions\/3155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}