Perhaps the most visible impact of the government shutdown has been in our national parks and recreation areas. With close to 80 percent of National Park S
Perhaps the most visible impact of the government shutdown has been in our national parks and recreation areas. With close to 80 percent of National Park Service staff furloughed, there simply aren’t enough remaining employees to conduct routine maintenance or ensure people know which areas to avoid because they’re dangerous or environmentally sensitive.
Volunteers, concessionaires and “Friends of groups” have stepped up at Yellowstone, Yosemite, and other sites managed by the Park Service to collect trash that’s been piling up and maintain bathrooms, but Joshua Tree National Park recently announced it would close at least for a couple days, while Muir Woods National Monument was shuttered as of Monday.
Other sites in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area – Fort Funston, Ocean Beach, Lands End – have also remained open, but with no trash collection or bathroom maintenance.
At Fort Funston, the Park Service locked the gate that leads to the parking lot because of the lack of maintenance there due to the shutdown. That didn’t stop people from coming, however. Many visitors just parked on the narrow shoulder along Skyline Boulevard and walked into the recreation area. Indeed, on weekends over the holidays, parked cars stretched along the shoulder from the Funston entrance nearly as far as the eye could see.
Given that the speed limit on Skyline at Fort Funston is 55 miles per hour, this created a very unsafe situation.
