Government shutdowns have huge consequences for the people of our nation, our public lands, and especially for the families facing hardship as a result of the month-long furlough. For example, the National Park Service (NPS), which usually employs 24,681 people, furloughed all but 3,298 employees when the shutdown began on December 22. Many parks remained open for the shutdown, but there were no visitor services, restrooms, trash collection, facilities, or road maintenance – crucial at parks like Rocky Mountain National Park and other areas under feet of snow. The recent shutdown became the longest on record and our parks and public lands are showing the strain.  
 
The National Parks and Conservation Association (NPCA) estimates that the Park Service lost $400,000 per day from entrance fee revenue. By day 30 of the shutdown, the NPS lost $12 million. This revenue loss could permanently harm some of the largest and most popular parks, such as the Grand Canyon, Shenandoah, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Zion. These parks keep 80 percent of their entrance fees and depend on this revenue for their operating budgets. Additional shutdown costs include: the opportunity cost of lost labor, the cost of postponing maintenance that can lead to further and more costly damage, and the cost of cleanup after the shutdown. Local communities and businesses also suffered economically; on an average day in January, 425,000 park visitors typically spend $20 million, with contractors and local businesses also providing essential services. 
 
A few parks remained open or partially open during the shutdown. The state of Utah paid to staff the visitor centers at Arches, Bryce Canyon, and Zion National Parks. Arizona’s state government kept trails, shuttles, and restrooms open at the Grand Canyon. New York footed the bill for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island for the third time in five years.
 
Sally Jewell, U.S. Department of Interior Secretary from 2013 to 2017, in a recent radio interview said overflowing trash, illegal off-road driving, soil damage, thefts of artifacts and old growth timber, tree cutting, and disruptions in field data collection are just of few ways the shutdown impacted our beloved public lands.

She believes it was a “huge mistake” not to close the parks that remained open during the shutdown, even while acknowledging that people love their national parks and still want access. Here are highlights of her interview:
 

Rare trees and cryptobiotic soils have been impacted, in Joshua Tree National Park and Mount Whitney National Park.Soils of the desert Southwest and old growth forests are important habitat to a number of species, Jewell notes. Once soils or trees are damaged or disturbed, the impacts can be lost forever. Even a footprint or a tire track can destroy the continuity of an ecosystem. During the shutdown, visitors have cut down Joshua Trees to drive off-trail in sensitive areas where vehicles are banned. “The destruction of these resources is something you can never get back,” she said.

At Yosemite National Park and even the National Mall in Washington, DC, trash and facilities waste piled up, prompting regular visitors to pitch in to clean, collect and haul out trash, and replace supplies in the park’s public restrooms.

On the West Coast, Jewell noted that scientific monitoring by the U.S. Geological Survey -- one of the many science-based government agencies affected by the shutdown -- was disrupted and halted. The Survey furloughed all but 75 of its more than 8,000 employees. Disruptions like these slow scientific progress and, Jewell commented, de-values people’s scientific work. Likewise, seasonal prescribed burning and forest thinning in the West, normally done this time of year, has halted under the shutdown.

“When you are an employee who is in the ‘forever’ business, then the destruction of resources … just strikes at your core." – Sally Jewell

Now that the shutdown has ended, we can anticipate that there will be numerous cleanup opportunities throughout the park system. If you would like to be notified of opportunities to help, NPCA has created a signup here. HECHO will help share opportunities as we learn of them on our Facebook page. And, as always, when you are enjoying the outdoors remember to bring a bag to collect trash you find along the way.