Watch video: Illegal base jump from Yosemite during government shutdown
The Yosemite Conservancy says BASE jumpers have been seen in Yosemite National Park as only a small number of staff are working during the government shutdown.
- National parks are operating with reduced staff numbers due to the government shutdown, which is impacting nearby businesses.
- Gateway communities near national parks risk losing up to $80 million in daily visitor spending.
- Although the park has largely remained open, some parents are concerned about visitor safety and resource conservation due to fewer rangers.
There is a small restaurant located a few minutes from the west entrance to Glacier National Park. Employees arrive at Park Provisions each morning at 7 a.m. to prepare sandwiches and other fresh grab-and-go food for the day. Since the government shutdown on Oct. 1, the doorbell has gone silent. Stacey Schnabel, owner of Park Provisions and Stonefly Lounge, watched the crowds thin from her market window.
“From the first week of the shutdown, we had a tumbleweed infestation,” Schnabel told USA TODAY. At this time of year, Glacier’s busy season is over, but compared to the previous week, Park Provisions’ total sales decreased by 38.5%.
“We’ve been through shutdowns before, but my business relies on people who have been furloughed and don’t know if they’ll get the money they’re owed when they return to work,” Schnabel said.
Businesses like this one in Corum, Montana, and across the country are feeling the effects of park disruption. By way of background, areas managed by the National Park Service welcomed a record-breaking 332 million visitors last year.
The National Parks Conservation Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting parks “on the ground, in the courts, or in the capitol,” currently estimates that gateway communities are at risk of losing up to $80 million a day in visitor spending while hotels, restaurants, shopping, equipment rentals and other facilities are closed. That’s not the only thing hurting the park and its community.
Visiting a national park while it is closed
National parks have largely remained open with reduced staff numbers.
“More than 350 of our national parks are open in some capacity,” a National Park Service spokesperson said in a statement. “This includes many of the nation’s most visited locations. Each park’s situation is determined by its emergency response plans and local conditions, but we are doing everything possible to keep America’s parks accessible and safe for visitors.”
But some park advocates and former National Park Service officials want the park closed.
“National parks aren’t designed to operate with that much of a skeleton crew,” said Jeff Mow, former superintendent of Alaska’s Glacier, Denali and Kenai Fjords. He still lives near Glacier and was one of 40 former National Park Service superintendents who signed an open letter from the Coalition to Defend America’s National Parks to Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum calling for the park to be permanently closed during the closure period. The coalition is comprised of current and former National Park Service employees, retirees and volunteers.
“We have seen the effects of past closures, including resource impacts, illegal camping, dogs being brought into the park, people running through closed road signs, poaching, and vandalism,” Mow said. He noted that park employees already have a lot on their plate, with staffing shortages even before the closure due to the Trump administration’s federal staff cuts and hiring freeze. Moe said there will be a lot of work to do once they return, including time-sensitive tasks such as fighting invasive species.
John Garder, senior director of budget and expenditures at the National Park Conservation Association, said fewer rangers means less “preventive search and rescue.” This includes making sure visitors don’t go on hikes they’re unprepared for and understanding how to behave around large and dangerous wildlife, he said.
“If you want to go to your park, I understand that, but it puts your safety at risk and it could put resources at risk,” Garder added. “The more visitors there are, the harder it becomes for park officials to try to maintain order in an inherently chaotic situation.”
There have already been reports of squatters and code violations at Yosemite National Park in California, but the National Park Service said, “Law enforcement officers and campground staff continue to monitor visitor usage, respond to incidents, and enforce park regulations.”
Charles Winstead of the San Francisco Bay Area has witnessed several climbing accidents while climbing El Capitan over the past few weeks and attests to the quick response by park officials. “They are the best in the world at what they do. ”
Mr. Winstead began his rise before the government shutdown. From high up on the wall, he said: “The most obvious and visible thing we’ve seen is an actual increase in BASE jumpers.”
BASE jumping is illegal throughout the national park, and the National Park Service told USA TODAY it is investigating reports of BASE jumping in Yosemite and clearing unauthorized campsites as well.
Jose Garcia of Houston said he had been planning a trip since the spring, and when he and his wife visited the week of October 8, they were surprised by the openness of Yellowstone National Park.
“The closure caught me off guard, but I wasn’t too worried,” he says. “So during COVID, we visited national parks. We went to Big Bend and there was really no one at the entrance there, so we were like, ‘Maybe we’ll get in for free.’ That’s actually what happened in Yellowstone. Except there were rangers there… They were handing out maps and answering questions. Other than collecting[admission fees]it was normal.”
Garcia said restrooms were open throughout the park, which spans parts of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, the visitor center and Old Faithful shop were open, and park staff helped direct traffic during the elk crossing near Mammoth Hot Springs.
“As far as we could see, nothing was closed,” he said.
fill the gap
Perrin Doniger, vice president of communications and marketing for Friends of Acadia, said the loss of revenue is a big concern for Maine’s Acadia National Park, which is especially busy right now with fall foliage.
“Typically, the park makes about $1.5 million in admission fees in October,” she said. “So all of that revenue is at risk.”
To make up for lost revenue, Friends of Acadia, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and protecting Acadia, is spearheading a voluntary donation program that allows visitors to donate money they would have paid in admission fees to a fund earmarked for the park.
Garder worries that if tourists decide to skip national parks during closures, they won’t make any money at all. He estimates that millions of dollars can be lost every day in busy gateway communities like those around Acadia, the Great Smoky Mountains, Grand Canyon and Zion.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park was able to stay fully open, at least temporarily, thanks to funding from state and local leaders. This park, which straddles North Carolina and Tennessee, is the most visited national park in the United States. In October 2024, visitor numbers averaged nearly 49,000 per day.
In Colorado, Governor Jared Polis has directed the state’s four national parks to continue operating until they run out of toll revenue, according to a press release.
Rocky Mountain National Park typically has a timed entry system in place to manage crowds through mid-October. Restrictions have now been lifted and the gates are open.
Since the closure, the Rocky Mountain YMCA in adjacent Estes Park has led four volunteer trash pickup events.
“We remember the impact the last government shutdown had on national parks in 2018. It was all over the news,” said Jason Nelson, director of marketing and communications for the YMCA of the Rockies. “We set this up anticipating similar traffic volumes and similar impacts to the park.”
The visitor center inside the park is closed, but the Fall River Visitor Center just outside is open without rangers. The Rocky Mountain Conservancy, the park’s official nonprofit partner, has a store within the park that sells books, maps, and other educational items. Since the closure, additional personnel have been brought in to answer questions and stamp park passports.
“Remember, these people are not park rangers, so while they’re doing the best they can, they don’t have the same training or educational background as park rangers,” said Kasi Yaw, public relations manager for the Rocky Mountain Conservancy.
As the park transitions from fall to winter and conditions can change quickly, staff are doing their best to help people recreate responsibly and safely in the park.
Back in Montana, Schnabel worked multiple shifts each day to keep Park Provisions open until enough staff was available just before the shutdown. She is now thinking about how to best manage her summer cash.
“It’s hard to commit to large advertising and marketing spends when you don’t know whether your coffers will be refilled after you make the investment,” Schnabel says. “It’s hard to convert liquid cash into store merchandise when no one is coming to buy the merchandise.”
Contributor: Melina Khan, USA TODAY. Joanna Hayes, Knoxville News Observer
