National Parks will largely remain open even as the federal government shuts down, according to a plan made public on Tuesday evening.
“Park roads, lookouts, trails, and open-air memorials will generally remain accessible to visitors,” says a shutdown contingency plan for the National Park Service (NPS).
At the same time, the park service plans to furlough most of its staff. Of about 14,500 employees, 9,296 will not be working.
The plan states that expected staffing levels will be “held to the amount needed for the protection of life, property, and public health and safety, and will be based on the assumption that the NPS is conducting no park operations and providing no visitor services.”
The plan also states that parks that collect fees under the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act will use those fees to provide “basic visitor services.”
This includes maintaining restrooms, collecting trash, maintaining roads and campgrounds, law enforcement, and emergency operations.
In 2019, the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan congressional watchdog, said that the first Trump administration “violated the purpose statute when, during a partial government shutdown, it obligated Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act fees for expenses that it would normally charge to Operation of the National Park System (ONPS) appropriations.”
Source: The Hill - News
