National park closures

[h2oman]

With a little research, one can find a number of interesting places in Utah that are not national parks or monuments.

[Vaughn]

With a little research, one can find a number of interesting places in Utah that are not national parks or monuments.

Yes, many state parks in Utah such as Goblin Valley...unfortunately they might get a little more crowded with the National Parks closed.

[Alan Klein]

How would it work for the state to keep them open? Would they write checks to the Park Service? Could the Park Service accept them?

That was a big problem when they tried to keep the parks open during the last shutdown. They are trying to somehow get the checks more directly to the employees.[/QUOTE]

More important is what happens to those photographer visitors who spent thousands for air and hotels to visit these parks and are now stuck with film in their freezers?

[Alan Klein]

With a little research, one can find a number of interesting places in Utah that are not national parks or monuments.

Too cold to float in the Great Salt Lake and too warm to ski yet.

[Alan Klein]

Monument Valley would be open as it isn't a state or national park but beings to the Navajo. They do great photo tours throughout the reservation where Monument Valley sits.

[drj52]

Monument Valley would be open as it isn't a state or national park but beings to the Navajo. They do great photo tours throughout the reservation where Monument Valley sits.

It should be noted that the park will be closed during the eclipse two weeks from now.

[Drew Wiley]

Alan - there are many many places in the West to go apart from the Natl Parks, including in both CA and UT. But this is an especially sensitive year. In our CA Sierra Range, unusually high winter snowfall seriously delayed access to high country, and road damage is still being repaired. As a consequence, unusually high numbers of people are finally heading into the backcountry during this brief little window of opportunity before the next season of serious snowfall begins (it's already snowing above 8000 ft this weekend).

Only certain trails are open; and off-trail hiking is more sketchy than usual due to all the previous storm damage and high stream flow. People's routes go into the NP's and through them. The Wilderness Rangers themselves do an exceptional job, but are far and few between, operate only until mid Sept or so, and get paid relatively little. Most rely on different jobs off-season, either with the Park system itself, or outside non-Summer employment like school teaching.

Wilderness per se doesn't have any gates. But that puts an especially high strain upon search and rescue crews this season, and their own funding. Helicopters are expensive to operate. And there are an awful lot of inexperienced types getting out there these days, expecting to get rescued by triggering a satellite beacon if something gets wrong. But the limited crews can't be everywhere at the same time, or even fly in severe weather. Strained budgets and thinned-out staffing make it even worse. They can't even control the numbers of people going in on foot like normally, or even monitoring them. Lives get lost. So they can't really be expected to deal with all the normal automobile and tour bus logistics at the same time, regarding the paved roads into these same parks.

If people need rescuing due to conspicuously violating Park rules and regulations, including illegal entry, they are liable for the full expense of rescue and medical transport, which can potentially add up to tens of thousands of dollars.

I spent an afternoon just last week up around Tioga Pass in Yosemite, and all the conventional facilities and Ranger headquarters up around Tuolumne Mdws were simply no more - nearly everything was destroyed by the heavy snowfall last winter; and the road itself was still undergoing a lot of serious repair near Olmstead Pt due to avalanche damage. The situation further south in Kings Can and Sequoia is even worse. Some roads won't open at all this year; and even the most popular trails have vital bridges out, or are otherwise inaccessible at their entry points due to summer flashflooding.

[BrianShaw]

Perhaps the eclipse will get furloughed too!

[Drew Wiley]

Our local NP holdings here in the Bay Area are somewhat different, since they are ordinarily accessible by vehicle and on foot or horseback without any kind of intervening access gate or fee. Only official Visitor Centers or other indoor venues are likely to be closed at Pt Reyes Natl Seashore or the Golden Gate Natl Rec areas. The only big problem during the last budget shutdown is that these locations had to rely on volunteers to deal with trash barrels and outdoor restroom cleanup. That kind of thing did get out of hand.

[Thad Gerheim]

We have a National Recreation Area here where they lock the restrooms during shutdowns and the off season. I can't figure what they're thinking- either you hold it or bring a shovel?