#KeepParksOpen

The Federal Shutdown is severely affecting people who work in, visit, or are dependent on our National Parks. Let's use their stories to let Congress know it's time to reopen.

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The Shutdown is Over!

Image by Jim Liestman

Thank you. 

You took the time to become a part of the solution. Instead of just lamenting, you participated in a national effort to #KeepParksOpen and shared with the world your stories about how the government shutdown affected you and the National Parks.

Banding together we joined the many other voices struggling to be heard by Congress during these trying weeks.

Know that your voice was heard. Polls showed a severe lack of public support for the shutdown, opinions that were shared and voiced by concerned citizens just like yourself across the nation.

So again, thank you for your support. Thank you for sending tweets to your congressman. Thank you for submitting your heartfelt stories. Thank you for sharing the #KeepParksOpen hashtag and website with your friends. Because it made a difference, and it reminded us how much we value the National Parks and their surrounding communities. Let's maintain this vigilance for our unique national treasures in the time ahead.

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National Park shutdown

I bought a backcountry campsite from GCNP and after driving 400 miles to get to it I was locked out of the park. I want a refund. Also, I want a refund of my annual parks pass, and I don't mean a pro-rated one either. We took time off from 2 jobs to travel the southwest and visit parks and get our money's worth, and got Nothing. INSTEAD  we spent hunreds of dollars on gasoline and hotels without achieving our vacation's goals. Shame on our pathetic government - an embarassment in front of the world. There are many, many people with worse circumstances than mine: People who came from around the world to see our national treasures and spend money in our economy. It is time to send our current government PACKING! Time for a revolution!

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It's Not the Same.

When you live and work in a National Park, or even a "gateway" community, you hear and see things every day that are intrinsically tied to a beautiful place. It makes you feel good to gaze upon Mother Nature's finest, to revel in all that is available in your backyard. Lately, however, the happiness in our communtiy has been replaced. Now all we see are sullen faces in town. Empty stores. Annual events, local festivals with poor attendence. Ample street parking and empty lots. When I go into the local coffee shop, community members that know where I work keep asking -- "When will the Park be open again?? We miss business." Well, we miss business, too. With it being autumn, Shenandoah National Park's claim to fame, our Park *should* be busy. We *should* be booked solid every night. We *should* be stopping along Skyline Drive to absorb the beauty of the leaves during this, our busiest month. Instead, thanks to the dysfunctions of our own government, our staff has been layed off and this "gateway" stop to Skyline Drive is suffering. This shutdown has to end, now. It's doubtful that, as operators for the Park with the National Park Service, our staff will be able to make up for their lost wages. But we have to try. Please, let us try to salvage October. Let people come see the beauty, to gaze at the colors and appreciate the wonder. Regardless of who started this fiasco, don't you want to be the ones to fix and finish it? For all National Parks are here for the enjoyment of others, and due to all that they offer, Parks lift up their communities and make them better. Let's make America better. Resolve this government shutdown, and open the Parks.

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Stories from the Shutdown

We asked a handful of Park Service staff, small business owners, and everyday citizens around the country to tell us, in a minute or less, how the national park closures are affecting their lives. Watch their video testimonies here.

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Photo Set: Government Shutdown 2013

Images of national park sites that have been closed due to the Government Shutdown on October 1, 2013. #KeepParksOpen 

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An empty, dark lodge.

It is so disappointing to learn that in the richest, most powerful country in the world, we,  that work to provide the tax base that funds everything that our country does, are at the mercy of Federal Government leaders that are inept and incompetent at their jobs. If you ran a business and your job was to create a budget and it was due by September 30th and you FAILED to get it done and weren't even close, could YOU keep your job? I doubt it. If after two weeks later, if you were still employed, you were no closer to meeting your budget deadline, could you keep your job or even apply for another?? I doubt it. Other countries around the world are watching and shaking their heads in dismay  as we sink into further debt and disorganization.

  I called the White House Comment Line at 202-456-1111 to give someone a small piece of my mind about this entire debacle and, yes, the comment line phones are shut down due lack of federal funding. Here in Sequoia we have laid off all our employees, locked the front doors, postponed many events,tasks and projects because we had to close our doors to the public. The weather is great here, the deer and the bears are congregating along the park's roadways and there is no one here to witness this natural wonder. All the front desk staff have gone. All the wait staff are gone, the maintenance crew only works a handful of hours per week. The government leaders, rather than taking the responsibility for their incompetence and their actions, find it easy to place blame everywhere else but on their own backs. I've never worked for any company that would allow such irresponsibility to continue let alone proliferate!!  Once the government workers get back to work, they will probably be reimbursed for the furlough time they spent away from work. They will be paid for having done nothing while concession employees at all of the National Parks , having all applied for unemployment insurance, will not be imbursed for the time off they have had without a paycheck. Mr. President, Congress, House of Representatives, please convene and arrange for the budget to be passed putting the country back on the path of progress. Put your own selfish desires away and let the voice of the unemployed people be heard to say, enough is enough. Do your job and complete the budgeting process. It no longer matters who is to blame. It only matters who will step up and take responsibility so the United States can be a whole country again.

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Mass Layoffs

Very disappointing and sad that the park closure results in lost jobs for hundreds of top quality, dedicated, trained, experienced workers to compensate for an inept US Congress. For the sake of all employees and visitors, we hope Congress will fund the NPS and we can all go back to enjoying the our National Parks, in particular, Golden Gate National Recreation Area's Alcatraz Island, and the Statue of Liberty National Monument, the world's greatest symbol of hope and freedom.

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It was just a normal trip

I have been going to Yosemite for 17 years now, I’m 18. I go every summer once or twice with family or friends. This year when my family went in July my boyfriend couldn’t make it so I booked a few days at the end of September. We arrived in the beautiful Yosemite valley on September 29th. It was nice to see the changes of fall and for it not be as hot. It was my boyfriend's first time in the park and he was so happy to be there. We went all around the park in the first couple of days. On the day of the closure October 1st we were going to hike Vernal Falls. None of the water areas or bathroom areas were open. The park seemed quiet and lifeless without all of the day users coming in. It was truly heart breaking to see. That night was our last night in Yosemite and we were supposed to go up to Glacier Point. We drive half way up and it said road closed. It was the most devastating thing during the trip. My boyfriend never being in Yosemite wanted to see what it was like from up there. Unfortunately he was unable to. I have so many great memories about Yosemite and everyone I have met there. I hope congress wakes up and realizes what they have done is a terrible mistake. #keepparksopen #yosemite #notfair #tellcongress

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Another Lost Moment.

We have not been able to visit the park for a number of years and have just purchased a new RV to enjoy the outdoors in our retirement. We had reservations to visit and were bringing friends to share the beautiful outdoor environment in the off-season. The biking and hiking is just not the same in other parks and this opportunity will be sorely missed.

Joe

Mission Viejo

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Americans describe how shutdown impacts their lives

Video on msnbc.com: From a college student, to a furloughed worker, to fishing guide, the government shutdown has created difficulties for people from all walks of life. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reports.

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"But why can't we play?"

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“All I wanted to do was go to El Capitan and put my hand on it, just to be able to say I did."

- Daniel Mohally, an Irish delivery driver who traveled to California for his honeymoon, planning to visit Yosemite and Alcatraz - both of which are closed. LA Times

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Here are 10 gorgeous U.S. treasures that are usually visited by tens of thousands of tourists every day.

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The federal government shutdown leaves hundreds of workers, many of them private, without pay and relying on food banks to get by.

~ LA Times

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The closure of Yosemite National Park caught international visitors by surprise and ruined many once-in-a-lifetime vacations...

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Four weddings booked for Yosemite this weekend – booked two years ago – have now been cancelled. How would you like to make the calls to the bride or her dad? How about the family members flying in for the wedding?

President of an association of national parks-dependent businesses, via USTA

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The shops and restaurants at Acadia National Park in Maine expect to lose $40,000 each day of the shutdown. The entirety of the 60-person staff will be laid off.

US Travel Association