Unpaid Agents, Dark Visitor Centers, Closed Trails: Effects of the Shutdown Beginning

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, Colo. — The visitors’ centers at Rocky Mountain National Park were locked and dark on Saturday. Drivers breezed through gates without stopping at tollbooths to pay the park’s $25 entrance fee. And as adventurers switchbacked up the snowy roads toward the park’s sledding hills and backcountry ski terrain, they encountered a new sign: “ROAD CLOSED.”

So began the opening hours of the latest shutdown for a federal government that has become familiar with furloughs, and a country that has almost come to shrug off stalemates and spending fights — at least at first.

“It’s an annoyance, but you can work around it,” said Desmond Hadlum, who drove in with his wife, Ann, to go snowshoeing. They stopped a park ranger at the entrance gate to ask about the shutdown.

“So far, so good,” the ranger replied.

But the shutdown’s effects — especially visible on Saturday at closed or unstaffed National Park Service sites, and at checkpoints at airports and the nation’s borders as officers stood guard without pay — will be magnified once the standoff seeps past Christmas, when federal offices would ordinarily be open and staffed with the approximately 380,000 employees who have been told to stay home while President Trump and Congress try to reach a spending accord.

An additional 420,000 or so employees, their duties classified as essential, were ordered to work without pay during what some elected officials, including Mr. Trump, said could be a protracted battle over the president’s insistence on $5 billion for a wall along the border with Mexico.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/unpaid-agents-dark-visitor-centers-closed-trails-effects-of-the-shutdown-beginning/ar-BBRjxu2?li=BBnb7Kz

[AnnieBW]

1. My Co-worker's Sister Is Coming To Visit

And wants to see some of the Smithsonians. I think that she's going to be disappointed.

[Ms. Toad]

4. Depends on when -

All Smithsonian Museums and the National Zoo To Remain Open Through Jan. 1

https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/releases/updated-smithsonian-statement-government-shutdown

[akraven]

2. Denali, my favorite park is under shutdown.

It's less than a 2 hour drive from where we live, and we go a lot, even in winter.

FUCK sTRUMPET!

[obamanut2012]

3. Why are you calling Trump a gendered slur against women?

It literally makes zero sense you are calling him that.

[Ms. Toad]

6. Doesn't look like it.

Partial Government Shutdown
During the federal government shutdown, Denali will remain open. However, there will be no visitor services, and hazardous or dangerous conditions may exist. Call 911 for emergencies.

https://www.nps.gov/dena/index.htm

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s contingency plan for government shutdowns — online at on.doi.gov/2GBNgy3 — generally calls for keeping national parks open to the public during shutdown, but calls for stopping all visitor services including trash collection, educational programs and maintenance of roads or bathrooms.

http://www.newsminer.com/news/local_news/denali-awaiting-shutdown-instructions-visitor-center-and-park-road-expected/article_49fddae8-05c3-11e9-93f2-bba899bc1c49.html

[akraven]

7. You drive there in 4' of snow, ice underneath, because the roads aren't plowed.

Then go into the Park. You can't get there.

[Ms. Toad]

8. There is a difference between you can't get there - and shut down. n/t

[PufPuf23]

9. Press release from Redwood National Park

Press release from the Redwood State Parks:

During the shutdown of the federal government due to the lapse of appropriations, national parks will remain as accessible as possible while still following all applicable laws and procedures. Park roads, lookouts, and trails at the Redwood National Park unit of Redwood National and State Parks, will remain accessible to visitors, but emergency and rescue services will be limited.
The Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park units of Redwood National and State Parks will remain open as normal because they are managed by California Department of Parks and Recreation.

There will be no National Park Service (NPS)-provided visitor services at Redwood National Park, including public information, restrooms, trash collection, facilities and roads maintenance. Permits will not be issued for vehicle access to the Tall Trees Grove trailhead. No backcountry permits will be issued except for backcountry permits for Gold Bluffs Beach, which may be obtained at the Prairie Creek Visitor Center.

Because of the federal government shutdown, NPS social media and websites are not being monitored or updated and may not reflect current conditions. All NPS programs have been canceled, including: ranger-led interpretive walks, educational school programs, and scientific research.

For updates on the shutdown, please visit www.doi.gov/shutdown.

http://kymkemp.com/2018/12/22/planning-a-visit-to-the-redwood-national-parks-heres-whats-up-with-the-government-shutdown/