When national parks will reopen, and when the Old Faithful dining room will again welcome diners, is unknown/Rebecca Latson file

Overarching concerns for the health of staff, concession workers, and visitors are complicating the reopening of national park sites shuttered due to the coronavirus pandemic. Business won't return to normal quickly or uniformly, with many parks confronting a unique set of issues they must resolve before they can welcome the public's return.

Exactly when individual parks will reopen is unknown, with some units of the National Park System already saying they'll be closed into late June, and others saying they might try staggered openings before summer officially arrives.

Seasonal workforces, thousands of individuals strong, normally are getting their positions for the summer season finalized now. But bringing workers in from not just across the country but possibly from throughout the world and housing them in dormitory settings is a potentially deadly proposition, something the National Park Service's public health director has warned David Vela, the de facto Park Service director, about.

"... we cannot predict the exact burden of disease that our workforce and parks will see as the COVID-19 pandemic runs its course, but we can say with absolute certainty that leaving our parks open to the public when social distancing is not being practiced, onboarding employees originating from throughout the country and world, and permitting significant shared housing environments will result in a significantly greater burden of disease and death than if we had taken the proactive measure to continue to close these parks and/or limit operations," Captain Sara Newman wrote in a "discussion" memo on April 3.

Issues park staffs are tackling now involve not only how to house employees to lessen the chance they might spread the disease, but in some states how to house employees that must self-quarantine for 14 days.

Captain Newman in her letter, which was obtained by Sierra magazine, has recommended that park managers "restrict new employees, volunteers, partners, and concessioners from coming into the park to the greatest extent possible because of the risk they present in transmitting disease," stop dormitory housing for the time being, and restrict "park access in communities where there are stay-at-home orders where large numbers of visitors travel distances to visit parks and mitigation measures to maintain social distancing are not able to be enforced."

To juggle their workforces with available housing, some parks are planning to bring seasonal workers on in waves -- a process called 'onboarding' -- with the first expected to arrive sometime in May.

"Seasonal onboarding is something we're looking at very closely. It's a complex conversation given the unknowns about the future, especially relating to how we would effectively mitigate transmission risks to our employees on the front-lines, manage large congregations of visitors, visitors in hotels, employees in dormitories, etc.," Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Cam Sholly told the Traveler in an email. 

"As of right now, we will only hire the number of seasonals we can safely house in individual housing units. What's that mean? We normally hire 400-500 seasonal positions. Those positions usually share housing assignments (i.e., two bedroom apartment would house two seasonals)," he pointed out. "What we're looking at now, at least to start, we would only put one seasonal in each housing unit. So the two-bedroom apartment becomes housing for only one person. That does reduce the amount of seasonals we're hiring initially, but ensures we can respond effectively if an employee tests positive (i.e. ability to isolate/quarantine the employee)."

The first "wave" of seasonals for Yellowstone will number around 160-170, the superintendent said. These are workers who deal with sanitation throughout the park's front country, law enforcement rangers, paramedics, and "visitor/wildlife interface employees," said Sholly, "and a range of positions needed to continue moving forward on critical priorities, like bison management and non-native fish eradication, etc."

The second wave of seasonal help would arrive throughout the summer, depending on available housing space. Yellowstone also likely will reopen to the public in waves, the superintendent said.

"I envision the park reopening in two phases. Initially, gates are open, visitors can drive in, view wildlife, etc., however with limited facilities (gas stations and restrooms)," he said. "We will then open other services as in a staggered manner as is safe to do so. As more of these facilities become operational, we would look at bringing on more of Wave 2 employees as is safe to do so."

Shenandoah National Park in Virginia also is planning to bring in seasonals in waves.

"We typically hire about 120 seasonals each year. This year we will be bringing on seasonals that are considered essential in early May and the rest will be brought on later in May," said Sally Hurlbert, the park's spokesperson. "These time frames may change if necessary. We don't have any dormitories, but we have houses for seasonals scattered throughout the park. We'll be placing one seasonal in each house."

That said, the park has some flexibility because some of those workers live in communities that surround the park.

"Some of the essential duties they perform are law enforcement, water treatment, wastewater management, maintenance, etc.," said Hurlbert. "I should add is that not all of our seasonals require housing. Some of them live in the local area already. Fortunately, Shenandoah, being 100 miles long and very narrow, has several gateway communities surrounding us where our staff are able to find housing if we can't accommodate them in the park."

At Acadia National Park in Maine, only essential employees have remained on the job, as the state has implemented a "stay healthy at home" initiative that runs through April, said park spokesperson Christie Anastasia.

Park staff currently is going over their seasonal housing inventory, with the realization that they will have limited housing as long as Centers for Disease Control guidelines regarding coronavirus remain in force. The park normally hires 120-140 seasonals, said Anastasia.

"Keep in mind, some of our seasonals are year-round or summer residents and have their own lodging already secured," she added.

Back in Yellowstone, Sholly said they had consensus with surrounding states, counties, and local communities to close the park earlier this year. "When the conversations begin to happen about reopening, we will converse with these same partners and stakeholders to determine the best way to do that," he said.

"Our plans need to be adjustable based on where we are with Covid," said Sholly. "If things are much better, we need to be prepared to ramp up as quickly and safely as possible. If they're not, we need plans for that too.  

"We will put the safety of our workforce first."

That said, Sholly added that he believes "there will be a point in time when the economic impacts and stressors of this situation begin to override the fear of the virus. I don't know when that is going to be, but it's coming. Our NPS team, partners, and community stakeholders are all doing their part right now to reduce transmission risks.  

"As time goes on, especially closer to summer, that will come at a cost. Many people are dependent on Yellowstone for economic livelihood," said the superintendent. "None of us want to put people at risk, however, we need to be prepared to open, protect our teams, and help these communities when the timing is right. I'm not positive how long this current course of action is sustainable and we all hope to get through this sooner than later."

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