The National Park Service (NPS)has begun to resume some of its basic services, such as trash collection, urgent roadwork and sanitation services, at several of its parks around the country. NPS says some of these services had been donated by park partners since the federal government was partially shut down on December 22.
Areas where NPS will be resuming basic services include Yellowstone National Park, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Cape Hatteras National Park, Mount Rainier National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park and the parks located within the District of Columbia, which include: Anacostia Park, Baltimore-Washington Parkway, Capitol Hill Parks, Civil War Defenses of Washington, George Washington Memorial Parkway, Georgetown area parks including Georgetown Waterfront Park, Kenilworth Park, Meridian Hill Park, National Mall and Memorial Parks, President’s Park, Rock Creek Park and Suitland Parkway.
Each park has had varying accessibility to visitors, as parts of some remained open while other parks have been completely closed off. The shutdown has caused overflowing garbage and human waste at the national park, as more than 21,000 National Park Service employees were furloughed, leaving just a few employees at each park to handle the work. The pile-up of trash has prompted volunteers to clean up the parks and organizations to donate money to do so.
“During the lapse of appropriations, the men and women of the National Park Service who have remained on duty have gone to incredible lengths to keep America’s iconic national parks as accessible as possible to the American public,” P. Daniel Smith, the deputy director of NPS, said recently in a written statement. “Thanks to the strong relationships that many national parks have built with partners across the country, a number of states, private concession companies, and park nonprofit groups have stepped up to provide over two million dollars’ worth of donations and in-kind services to help over forty parks continue to provide key services for visitors.”
NPS will use fee revenue, collected by national parks across the country under the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, to provide these basic services in order to ensure ongoing public access, health and safety and to protect park resources, NPS says. Services being restored to each park vary as well by priority.
“As the lapse in appropriations continues, it has become clear that highly visited parks with limited staff have urgent needs that cannot be addressed solely through the generosity of our partners … The NPS currently has funds derived from entrance, camping, parking and other fees collected from park visitors that would typically be used for future projects at parks. After consultation with the Office of the Solicitor at the Department of the Interior, it has been determined that these funds can and should be used to provide immediate assistance and services to highly visited parks during the lapse in appropriations,” Smith said in his statement. “We are taking this extraordinary step to ensure that parks are protected, and that visitors can continue to access parks with limited basic services.
“In the coming days, the NPS will begin to use these funds to clean up trash that has built up at numerous parks, clean and maintain restrooms, bring additional law enforcement rangers into parks to patrol accessible areas and to restore accessibility to areas that would typically be accessible this time of year. While the NPS will not be able to fully open parks, and many of the smaller sites around the country will remain closed, utilizing these funds now will allow the American public to safely visit many of our nation’s national parks while providing these iconic treasures the protection they deserve.”
NPS says national parks remain as accessible as possible during the lapse of appropriations, however some services are limited or unavailable, including visitor centers, ranger talks and programs and emergency services. Visitors should check park websites on nps.gov to confirm the operating status of park sites before they visit. Additional information is available at go.nps.gov/DCparks.