When I heard that the federal government was indeed shutting down late on Friday night my first thought was, “wow, this really sucks for anyone who was planning a trip to a National Park over Christmas break.”
However, it now looks like National Parks will remain open. On the surface that seems like great news. However, there is a caveat: there won’t be any staff. That means that roads won’t be maintained, bathrooms won’t be operational, visitor centers will be closed, and most importantly, park rangers will be sidelined. Like swimming in the ocean with no lifeguard on duty, anyone attending a National Park during the shutdown will be on their own.
Some people make think this is good news. No staff means no one to collect entrance fees. No one to ticket you for creating your own parking spot. No one to yell at you when you do something that you shouldn’t. Like hunt endangered species, deface national monuments, pollute, go off trail, operate drones or electric vehicles in areas that you shouldn’t, etc.. It’s essentially a total free for all. It’s also a giant cluster fuck.
According to The Hill, “Interior similarly kept its park gates open during the shutdown back in late January of this year, which led to a number of land misuses including the illegal hunting of a pregnant elk in Utah’s Zion National Park and a snowmobiler who got a little too close to Yellowstone National Park’s iconic Old Faithful geyser.”
This is not going to end well for anyone. People are definitely going to get hurt during the shutdown. Or worse. Which is why I’d like to propose that we create a network of National Park volunteers. Similar to volunteer firefighters these would be trained “professionals” who can step up in times when there is great need like during natural disasters, government shutdowns, or other crisis.
They don’t even have to get the park fully up and running. If the bathrooms can’t be opened and the garbage can’t be picked up, fine. So be it. But at the very least perhaps the volunteers could still be on hand to guide visitors, provide medical assistance, alert authorities to any issues, and keep a watchful eye over restricted areas.
Granted this isn’t a perfect plan. It may not even be possible to get enough volunteers to cover every national park and monument. But at the same time it sure seems like a better idea than shutting down parks entirely or leaving them open without staff.
Is a network of National Park volunteers the Greatest Idea Ever?
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