Additionally, the development, testing, and evaluation of technology to revamp air traffic control operations—an FAA initiative called NextGen—would also be paused during the shutdown, per the DOT plan. That means a delay to the roll out of sorely needed equipment improvements in airports around the nation.
Will national parks be closed during a government shutdown?
US national parks will be kept partially open during the duration of the government shutdown, according to a National Park Service (NPS) contingency plan published on September 30. Accessible areas such as park roads, lookouts, trails, and open-air sites “will generally remain accessible to visitors,” the plan says, while buildings and monuments, such as park visitor centers, will be closed.
The national parks that do remain open to the public will use recreation fees to fund basic visitor services such as restrooms and sanitation, trash collection, road maintenance, campground operations, law enforcement and emergency operations, and staffing entrance gates as necessary to provide critical safety information. However, “If visitor access becomes a safety, health, or resource protection issue (weather, road conditions, resource damage, garbage build-up to the extent that it endangers human health or wildlife, etc.), the area must be closed,” the NPS says.
Some state governments have vowed to keep their national parks and monuments running with local funds in the event of a shutdown. Utah, for one, has promised that the state’s “Mighty Five” national parks, including Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capital Reef, and Zion will all be accessible. Colorado has also indicated it might use state funds to keep Rocky Mountain National Park open if necessary.
Non-profit groups are advocating for all national parks to be closed to the public during the shutdown, citing unsupervised visits to national parks during the 2019 shutdown that caused irreparable damage to sites, including the vandalization of prehistoric petroglyphs and the destruction of Joshua trees. “[T]he administration is once again putting our national parks and visitors at risk, effectively directing staff to open park gates and walk away,” Theresa Pierno, President and CEO for National Parks Conservation Association, said in a statement. “Visitors may enter, but very few staff will be there to protect the parks or the people inside.”
