With an October federal government shutdown narrowly avoided, the United States national parks remain open for business. But another deadline looms.
The US Congress narrowly avoided yet another temporary closure of federal government services on October 1 with an 11th-hour deal cut to keep spending in place for 45 days through a stop-gap measure. But the recent vote to remove the Speaker of the House and infighting among Republic Party lawmakers makes a November shutdown very probable.
The US National Park Service already warned the public that most of the country’s national parks would close had Congress failed to authorize continued spending. The 45-day spending measure is now in place, but that deal—reached with the help of Democratic Party lawmakers—is widely seen as the reason why Republican lawmakers voted to expel a fellow Republican, Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, from his role as House speaker.
Some state governments, such as Utah’s, have announced plans to use state funds to keep some of the nation’s most popular attractions open if a federal government partial shutdown forced NPS to furlough workers and close park facilities.
Earlier on X, the social media service formally known as Twitter, NPS announced that an October 1st federal shutdown would mean “beginning Monday, October 2, all national parks would close, and visitors should expect services to be unavailable.” The conditions that would have compelled NPS to close the national parks in early October—record park crowds greeted by too few park rangers and park security officers—will remain come November.
The last time the national park system was closed due to a federal government shutdown was in 2013. The NPS director at that time, Jonathan Jarvis, ordered the parks closed, drawing the ire of lawmakers who later called him to the Capitol to testify. Jarvis said he closed the parks to avoid damage that would have been caused by a lack of park rangers on hand to manage the crowds and the pollution that they bring.
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