NEW YORK – Wednesday morning saw crowds boarding boats to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, with no apparent signs of the government shutdown affecting about two-thirds of National Park Service employees who are on furlough.
In contrast, in Philadelphia, visitors to Independence Mall, where the Liberty Bell is located, were disappointed on a brisk fall morning, as they were not allowed entry and could only catch glimpses through a glass pavilion.
The park service’s shutdown contingency plan, released late Tuesday, mentioned that “park roads, lookouts, trails, and open-air memorials will generally remain accessible to visitors.” However, due to significantly reduced staffing, parks lacking “accessible areas” will be closed during the shutdown. Additionally, sites currently open may close if park resources are damaged or if trash accumulates, according to the plan.
With government websites offering limited information, questions arose on social media on Wednesday. People were curious if camping permits at places like Chaco Culture National Historical Park in northwestern New Mexico were still valid and if the gates at Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado would be open.
The plan notes that with nearly 9,300 park employees furloughed, parks that remain open can only provide minimal services, focusing on life, property, and public safety protection.
In Mississippi, Vicksburg National Military Park, the state’s most-visited cultural attraction, was closed. A nonprofit group is attempting to negotiate an agreement to reopen it, using donated funds to pay staff. Meanwhile, at Acadia National Park in Maine, there were no park rangers available, and visitors looking for trail maps found empty holders outside a closed visitor center.
The plan did not detail which of the park service’s more than 400 sites are considered inaccessible. The Associated Press requested further details in emails and a telephone call to officials with the National Park Service and Department of Interior on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The park service oversees large national parks such as Yellowstone and Grand Canyon, national battlefields, national monuments such as the Statue of Liberty and historic sites including Independence National Historical Park, home of the Liberty Bell. Those attractions often serve as economic engines for nearby communities.
Many national parks stayed open during a five-week shutdown in Trump’s first term. Limited staffing led to vandalism, overflowing garbage, damage to natural resources and illegal off-roading.
A group of 40 former National Park Service superintendents had urged the Trump administration to close the parks during a shutdown to prevent a repeat of the damage that occurred in 2018 and 2019. They warned a shutdown now could be even worse with parks already under strain from a 24% staff cut and severe budget reductions.
During a 2013 shutdown, the park service under former President Barack Obama turned away millions of visitors to its more than 400 parks, national monuments, and other sites. The service estimated that the shutdown led to more than $500 million in lost visitor spending nationwide. That also caused economic damage to gateway communities that border national parks and are heavily dependent on the visitors they draw.
The contingency plan allows parks to enter into agreements with states, tribes or local governments willing to make donations to keep national park sites open.
States where national parks draw major tourism lobbied to keep them open during past shutdowns, and Utah agreed to donate $1.7 million in 2013 to keep its national parks open. Arizona, Colorado, New York, South Dakota and Tennessee have also donated money to keep parks staffed during previous shutdowns.
Colorado’s governor suggested the state could do that again this time for Rocky Mountain National Park. But a spokesperson for the governor of Arizona said last week that it cannot afford to pay to keep open its national parks that include the Grand Canyon.
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Brown reported from Billings, Montana. Matt Rourke contributed from Philadelphia and Susan Montoya Bryan contributed from Albuquerque
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