No rangers, no rules: National parks suffer during shutdown

""We're worried about illegal and dangerous activity,""

""You wouldn't visit a museum without curators to make sure things are protected and safe. You wouldn't fly to airports if our air traffic controllers weren't working,""

""Unfortunately, people shouldn't be in national parks.""

Illegal and dangerous activities have increased in national parks during the shutdown, including BASE jumping off Yosemite's granite peaks amid a history of at least 25 accidental climber deaths, particularly during bad weather. One of Gettysburg's Devil's Den stone walls was toppled in mid-October, damaging a historic military landmark. A Joshua Tree campground fire burned over 70 acres and forced evacuations. Yellowstone has suffered repeated "bear jams" because of insufficient rangers. Staff shortages have allowed neglected maintenance of historic structures, unmonitored air and water quality, unchecked invasive species, and potential wildlife disease growth. Parks were sometimes kept open during prior shutdowns by rerouted funds.

Read at Axios