National Parks are “public lands” managed by the government. Due to the government shut down at least 20,000 nonessential personnel who work in the parks are now unemployed. And that’s only the beginning of the loss of revenues to the communities that surround National Parks.
Grand Canyon National Park, where I work summers as a Ranger, closed the gates at 6am Oct 1. Overnight visitors from around the world will have 48 hours to vacate the park. Depending on the duration of the government shut down many others will not see one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.
Of course the shut down effects more than National Parks. The following list of government agencies are also effected:
American Battle Monuments Commission, Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Election Assistance Commission, Export-Import Bank of the United States, Federal Communications Commission, FDIC, Office of Inspector General, Federal Election Commission,
Federal Labor Relations Authority, Federal Trade Commission, Institute of Museum and Library Services, Inter-American Foundation
Millennium Challenge Corporation, National Capital Planning Commission, National Science Foundation, Office of Government Ethics, Smithsonian, U.S. Office of Special Council, U.S. Trade and Development Agency, U.S, Courts, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Active duty military (DoD), Armed Forces Retirement Home, Appalachian Regional Commission, Bureau of Public Debt, Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, Fiscal Service Treasury Finance Fund, Department of Health and Human Services, Kennedy Center, Peace Corps, Broadcasting Board of Governors, Department of Veterans Affairs, Civilian military workers (DoD), Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Corporation for National and Community Service, Department of Education, Department of Interior, Department of Justice, Department of Labor, Department of Commerce, Department of Energy, Department of Transportation, Department of Homeland Security, EPA, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, IRS, Treasury, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Department of State,Social Security Administration.
So if you don’t approve of this government shut down call your representatives. Let them know how you feel. Bombard them with phone calls and emails. http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml This link will provide phone numbers.
Guess I’ll be spending a lot of time calling as I am currently unemployed.
My status is on furlough, no pay, but must be available to return to work within 24 hours if we reopen. I do not have to leave the park until my end date of October 15th yet will have to pay rent as long as I’m here. Hoping this is solved in the next few days so I can finish my season.
How are you being effected by this government shut down?
It’s total BS. I’m sorry that this is happening to you and everyone surrounding the National Parks. Imagine looking forward to staying at the Grand Canyon and the doors are shut? There are several special idiots that should be recalled for their ignorance and stupidity. I’d like to say that we didn’t elect them but we did elect some other lemons in our state government. Their time will come.
Yes it is BS. I feel very sorry for travelers who spent a lot of time and money to visit National Parks only to find them closed.
Amen!!! I’ve had it with all of them. So angry about this.
Sorry that you are personally impacted by this. Tell ’em no paycheck, not paying rent during this time either.
Yea, wonder how they’ll do that because rent usually just comes out of my paycheck that I won’t get.
The GOP nutbars who shutdown the government are driven entirely by the party’s maniacal opposition to health care access for 15% of Americans with no health insurance coverage.
The irony is shutting down the government did not derail the Affordable Care Act as it’s open for business and will continue to be because it has separate funding whether the government shuts down or not.
With the Affordable Care Act functioning and zero chance of repealing or de-funding it, what’s the current rational for Republicans to continue holding Americans hostage?
Oh….they’re nuts, wackos??? Correct!!
Yup Rick, you answered your own question. Wackos.
I am stunned not to hear and see more outrage about the situation. I was happy to see on the news that a Freedom Flight busted down the barricades to the memorial in Washington D.C. I am disgusted about the whole thing.
When we were in Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Pinnacles, and Channel Islands last week – we interacted with so many visitors from far away. A very high percentage of hikers on the trails were from Europe. There were four busloads of European visitors at the General Grant tree area alone. Can you imagine all of the money these people spent to get there? It cost us a lot from IL to CA…what about France to CA?! Not to mention, when you don’t make a lot of money, take months to plan, and only have two weeks of vacation…arriving to a closed door must bring so many to tears.
And then there are the employees…I can only imagine that you might have gotten some rude remarks from the upset visitors – not that it is your fault at all.
We are planning a trip to Mammoth Caves the 26th/27th of this month. I can’t even go to the website to plan. It makes me sad. I makes me anxious to wonder if we should rework our plans now and I should try and get my vacation day back from work.
I hope this gets resolved this week. We met a French backpacker just starting a 7-9 day hike last week…it was on Monday. So, I can only imagine that he is going to get back to the Wolverton parking lot in Sequoia, and find his car all alone and wonder what the heck happened. His English was not real good. Poor guy…
Trying to explain government shut down to foreign visitors was a nightmare. This whole thing is like a giant farce.
Does that mean that customs officers don’t work either and smuggling can go on full tilt? No one party should have the power to stop a government in it’s tracks like this, the whole situation, if it did not have the far reaching impact that it does, would be a great joke and make America a laughing stock.Bi-partisan bickering has always gone on but to take it to this level is just plain ridiculous.
Custom officers are ‘essential’ personnel. I am embarrassed by my government for acting like such children, no children are more polite. I’d bet the US is the laughing stock of the world right now.
Don’t just write to your own congresspeople, folks. Write to those da@#$ tea-party Republicans ….they are ruining our country.
Call John Boehner 202-225-0600.
I’m calling and writing and am just disgusted at our country that we are not more outraged and continue to vote for these right wing extremists. Now they are trying to save face by saying they will send a partial spending bill to the Senate just for the parks. Right! Now the parks are your interest but when it comes to funding them, they are the bottom of the barrel. They sure aren’t going to make themselves look good in my eyes with this token crap. I say vote every single one of them out. We are in Assateague National Seashore waiting to be told when we MUST be out. 48 hours from when??? This is so adversely affecting so many people. What does the already passed health care LAW have to do with funding the government to pay its other obligations. I know the country will not have a long enough memory to hold these jerks responsible for disrupting people’s lives, jobs and careers but I sure wish they’d remember at the mid term ballot box. I sure will but I’m not enough by myself. Where is the outrage??
It is total BS to play games with the public in the name of the few. Health Care is a done deal and the budget is not. Like apples and oranges. Congress doesn’t seem capable of dealing with more than one thing at a time, so that’s what they need to concentrate on Now.
What a bunch of idiots. And this all because of politics and the parties not agreeing on budget. Politics should not be allowed in anything, even politics.
And it’s mostly not about the budget but instead one party wanting to get their way to destroy Obama’s Health Care Act which is already law.
I”m very disappointed with congress and my congressman Bridenstine is one of those leading the charge. He’s angling to upgrade his job to Senator is what I hear.
Well I certainly hope that means Bridenstine won’t get elected for anything ever again.
At this point in time IF I were not reading this blog, or others, and the Internet News I would not know that there was a Government Shutdown. I have not been effected. From the list of agencies and department provided I doubt that I will be effected anytime soon.
Many of those agencies and department I would be happy to see remained closed. I would even accept “my ox being gored” if there was some way to stop the outrageous wasteful Federal Government spending but it is doubtful that will happen in my lifetime. Only when the Federal Government can no longer borrow and taxes become so high that people revolt will it happen – I’m guessing I’ll be dead by then.
Trust me, you’ll be effected in some way.
Thanks, Gaelyn, for adding your voice to this outrage. How does it effect us? We were on our way to Acadia NP in Maine!
I hope the problem is solved and you’ll be able to visit Acadia.