Parks are being cleaned up across the country as the National Park Service dips into a fund normally dedicated to enhancing visitor services for cleaning toilets and collecting trash/NPS

Trash collections were picking up this week in the National Park System, and some areas that had been closed to the public were reopening thanks to an infusion of funds from an account usually dedicated to enhancing the park experience for visitors, not cleaning toilets.

Press release after press release was being sent out by parks announcing that they were "restoring accessibility" to their parks. From Cape Hatteras National Seashore on North Carolina's Outer Banks to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, the releases sought to promote a sense of normalcy returning to the park system.

"This week, Lake Mead National Recreation Area will resume routine custodial services and trash pickup, using revenue generated by recreation fees," the park staff tweeted out. 

In California, the same message was announced at Redwood National and State Parks: "National Park Service using FLREA funds to bring back park maintenance crews to clean restrooms and remove trash. Previously closed bathrooms and day-use areas will be cleaned and reopened during the week of January 13th."

Down in Texas, the funds were allowing Big Bend National Park staff to reopen Old Maverick Road, Santa Elena Canyon, and any restrooms that had been closed.

In North Carolina at Cape Hatteras, "restrooms at Whalebone Junction, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, and next to the Ocracoke Visitor Center will reopen this weekend using revenue generated by recreation fees (camping, park entrance, and lighthouse climbing fees)," the park release said. "Trash will also be removed from trash cans in several visitor areas at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, and Wright Brothers National Memorial."

At Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina, staff was working to reopen the Cades Cove Campground and picnic area, including restrooms; restrooms at the Smokemont Campground; restrooms at the Deep Creek Picnic Area; Little River Road between Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area and the Townsend Wye; and Foothills Parkway East.

Not all parks were reopening their visitor centers. One that was was Hawai'i Volcanoes, where Friends of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park and the Hawai‘i Pacific Parks Association have been providing donations to keep the Kīlauea Visitor Center open. Areas accessible to park visitors there included:

• Kīlauea Visitor Center (KVC), exhibits, picnic tables, and restrooms
• The Hawai‘i Pacific Parks Association store in KVC will be open
• Crater Rim Drive from the park entrance to Kilauea Military Camp
• Crater Rim Drive from the park entrance to the intersection at Devastation Trail Parking Lot
• Crater Rim Drive to viewpoints of Halema‘uma‘u near Keanakāko‘i (pedestrians/bicyclists only)
• Crater Rim Trail between Volcano House and Kilauea Military Camp
• Volcano House lodging, gift stores and restaurants
• Kilauea Military Camp
• Volcano Art Center Gallery
• Steam Vents and Sulphur Banks
• Mauna Loa Road to Kīpukapuaulu (vehicles not permitted past the gate at Kīpukapuaulu)
• Mauna Loa Road to Mauna Loa Lookout – pedestrians and bicyclists only
• Kīpukapuaulu day use picnic area
• Kīpukapuaulu and trail
• Ka‘ū Desert Trail to the new Footprints exhibit
• Escape Road from Highway 11 to Crater Rim Drive (no vehicles)
• Namakanipaio Campground

At Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota, funds provided by the Voyageurs National Park Association was paying for park staff to pack and groom cross-country ski trails in the vicinity of the Rainy Lake Visitor Center and groom the Green Trail, the only marked snowmobile trail currently open.