"Once the federal government shutdown took effect, the National Park Service shared a last-minute contingency plan that would keep many park sites open, but without full staffing. According to an internal NPS memo obtained by KQED, national park sites that can be made physically inaccessible to the public will be closed off. But all other NPS sites, including those with roads and trails that are accessible to the public, will now remain open according to the memo."
"During the last shutdown in late 2018 and early 2019, the park struggled with vandalism, trash and overall, a lot of destruction. "The visitors centers are closed," said John Lauretig, executive director of the nonprofit Friends of Joshua Tree National Park said at the time. "All the bathrooms are still open, but they're not being maintained right now by the Park Service. So the local community has rallied together and started cleaning the bathrooms and restocking the toilet paper.""
National Park Service issued a contingency plan during the federal shutdown to keep many accessible park sites open without full staffing. The internal memo directed closing sites that can be made physically inaccessible while leaving roads and trails open. Joshua Tree National Park will remain open with law enforcement and maintenance staff, but staffing duration is uncertain. During the 2018–2019 shutdown the park suffered vandalism, off-road vehicle damage, and accumulating trash. Local nonprofit Friends of Joshua Tree and volunteer groups performed cleanup and restroom maintenance. Ongoing limited staffing raises concerns about repeating past destruction and reliance on community volunteers.
#joshua-tree-national-park #federal-government-shutdown #national-park-service #park-vandalism-and-volunteer-cleanup
Read at Kqed
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]