Overview

• A National Park Service contingency plan furloughed more than 9,200 employees, cutting active staff by roughly 64%.
• Yosemite stayed open with a skeleton crew as visitors filled campgrounds and parking areas over the holiday weekend.
• Visitor centers were largely closed, entrance fees often went uncollected, and wilderness permits were handled at self-registration stations.
• Eyewitness accounts described illegal activity including BASE jumping, unauthorized camping and Half Dome ascents without permits, with reports of campground squatters and minimal ranger presence.
• Interior Secretary Doug Burgum called such accounts misinformation and said the park was fully staffed, as Yosemite relied on pre-shutdown entrance-fee funds and concession operations despite past GAO warnings about fee use during funding lapses.