Overview
- All 63 national parks continue to allow public access under the Interior Department’s contingency plan nine days into the funding lapse.
- Roughly 9,000 of about 15,000 National Park Service employees are furloughed, leaving many sites without routine maintenance, fee collection, or staffed visitor centers.
- The plan permits targeted closures if safety, health, or resource protection problems arise, including sanitation issues or documented damage.
- States and nonprofits are filling gaps at select parks, with FLREA fee funds and local donations keeping limited services running, such as Utah-supported operations at Zion and a fundraising push that keeps Great Smoky Mountains fully operational through Oct. 19.
- Advocates including the NPCA and a coalition of former park leaders urge full closures, citing past shutdown damage and fresh reports of risky behavior such as illegal BASE jumps at Yosemite and off-trail use at Rocky Mountain.