National Park Service officials were working Wednesday to determine whether the National Park System would remain open in the event of a government shutdown Friday/Rebecca Latson file

With Congress at an impasse over how to fund the federal government beyond midnight Thursday, National Park Sevice officials Wednesday were still mulling whether to keep the National Park System open in the event of a government shutdown.

Federal agencies were told last Thursday to prepare for a shutdown if Congress fails to reach a budget agreement before October 1. As of Wednesday morning, the National Park Service had not decided whether to keep the park system open with reduced staffing.

"Consistent with guidance from (the Office of Management and Budget), we are reviewing our contingency plan. Determinations about specific operations and programs have not been made," said Jenny Anzelmo-Sarles, the Park Service's chief of public affairs and chief spokesperson in an email.

Under President Trump, parks remained open during the budget deadlock in 2018-19, though visitor services were shuttered and park personnel reduced.

A planning document that administration issued late in 2018 heading into the 2018-19 shutdown stated that "(P)arks must notify visitors that the NPS will cease providing visitor services, including restrooms, trash collection, facilities and roads maintenance (including plowing), campground reservation and check-in/check-out services, backcountry and other permits, and public information. National and regional offices and support centers will be closed and secured, except where they are needed to support excepted personnel. These steps will be diligently carried out while still ensuring visitor and employee safety as well as the integrity of park resources."

The document added that, "(S)taffing levels will be based on the assumption that no visitor services will be provided. While parks may still be accessible to visitors, parks may not use the presence of visitors in the park to justify higher staffing numbers than approved during previous shutdowns."

At the National Parks and Conservation Association, John Garder said Wednesday that "in the event of a shutdown, we expect the administration would make the painful but responsible decision to close our parks."

Garder, NPCA's senior director of budget and appropriations, also said it would be illegal for Interior officials to tap into Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act funds to operate the parks in the event of a shutdown. 

"It would be reckless and irresponsible to keep parks open using fee revenue, as the last administration did," he said in an email. "Inadequate staffing coupled with the recent surge in visitors would leave parks vulnerable to harm and threaten visitor safety."

During the last government shutdown, early in 2019, then-acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt directed the National Park Service to tap FLREA funds to pay for daily maintenance and custodial work. Park superintendents and friends groups were concerned because those funds are counted on to enhance the visitor experience, not meet the daily needs of operating a park.

In September 2019 the General Accounting Office ruled that Bernhardt twice broke the law when he directed de facto National Park Service Director P. Daniel Smith to shift FLREA funds to pay for maintenance and custodial work during the partial government shutdown. Specifically, GAO said Interior violated both the FLREA statute by using its revenues for a purpose other than the act directed, and the Antideficiency Act by spending funds "in excess or in advance of available appropriations, unless otherwise authorized by law."

In other words, while Interior expected Congress to replace the FLREA funds in the Park Service's operations budget once the shutdown ended, which indeed Congress did after the budget impasse with President Trump was resolved, GAO nevertheless said the dollars couldn't be spent on daily operations during the partial shutdown unless OKed by Congress because the Park Service did not have an appropriation for operations at the time.

Using FLREA revenues in this fashion also undermined the intent of the program, and set a precedent for how those dollars could be spent. As FLREA was envisioned and set up, the revenues from entrance fees and other approved programs were to go to enhance the visitor experience. That could be through better facilities, more interpretive programs, or restored habitat.