During the 2018-19 partial government shutdown, visitors to Big Bend National Park ignored road closed barriers/NPS

The National Park Service reportedly is developing a contingency plan that might allow the National Park System to remain open if Congress can't agree on a funding plan by the weekend.

While the Obama administration closed the park system in September 2013 when Congress failed to approve a plan before the fiscal year ended, the first Trump administration in late 2018 into 2019 kept the parks open during a partial government shutdown with skeleton staffing that led to problems with vandalism, litter, human waste, and visitors entering areas normally closed to them.

When the Biden administration in 2019 was faced with a potential government shutdown, it was ready to close the park system as much as possible. Not all park system sites can be completely locked down — the National Mall in Washington is one example, and many parks in the West have roads or highways that run through them — and determined members of the public can always find access points. Knowing that, Interior officials under President Biden at the time encouraged the public "not to visit sites during the period of lapse in appropriations out of consideration for protection of natural and cultural resources, as well as visitor safety."

How the current Trump administration might handle the parks during a government shutdown remains to be seen. Interior officials reportedly were updating the Biden contingency plan. Emails to the Park Service and Interior Department regarding the planning were not immediately replied to Monday.

Phil Francis, chair of the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, couldn't say whether the administration would take the 2018-19 approach and keep parks open with minimal staff. There's a different Interior secretary in office now, Doug Burgum, and he might have a different idea on what to do during a shutdown than then-Interior Secretary David Bernhard did, Francis said during a phone call.

Francis was concerned that trying to keep the park system open during a government shutdown could spawn a repeat of the vandalism, littering, and other problems that arose during the 2018-19 partial government shutdown. 

"The parks didn't have staff and there was overflowing garbage and sewage, vandalism that puts people at risk, and so I hope that doesn't happen again," he said Monday.

Problems With Skeleton Staffing

The skeleton staffing that the first Trump administration took with the parks during the 2018-19 shutdown led to problems across the park system. With no maintenance crews to collect trash or maintain restrooms, and no budget to pay for outside help, many parks were blighted by litter and human waste, and there were illegal campsites in Joshua Tree and Death Valley national parks.

The lack of the normal ranger force also has led to public safety concerns in some parks. Indeed, at Big Bend National Park in Texas a backcountry hiker, Joshua Snider, broke a leg and was fortunate to be found by a family of four that helped carry him a ways until they encountered a ranger working on an unpaid basis due to the shutdown. The ranger carried Snider on his back for about two hours to the parking area where his car was. The 26-year-old was initially treated at a nearby medical center before flying home to New York, where he had surgery on his leg.

An illegal campsite at Joshua Tree National Park in 2019 during the partial government shutdown/NPS

Big Bend officials also said illegal off-road driving caused unspecified damage to the park's natural resources that year, while at Joshua Tree National Park in California officials said illegal off-road driving caused unspecified damage to the park's natural resources. Parks that closed some facilities and campgrounds due to human waste and garbage that couldn't be hauled away because maintenance crews were furloughed included Shenandoah, Yosemite, Big Bend, and Joshua Tree. 

At Sequoia National Park in California, waste problems forced the Park Service to order closure of the Wuksachi Lodge. At Canyonlands National Park in Utah, heavy snowfall led to the closure of the park road at the Island in the Sky District. "It is unknown when the road will open," a park tweet read. "Access to the park will not occur until conditions improve or the National Park Service receives funding to maintain the roads."

Next door at Arches National Park, the entrance road was closed by snowfall and wasn't expected to reopen until either the shutdown ends or the snow and ice melts.

Yosemite National Park in California closed the John Muir and Nevada Fall trails for human safety and due to human waste.

A message on recreation.gov that year informed park travelers that any reservation they make might not be honored during the shutdown. "If you do make a reservation for the near future and the lapse in funding is not resolved by your arrival date, your reservation may not be honored or others may have occupied your site," a message on the site stated. "Please consider this when making new reservations. Please check with local facilities as they may be open for business and welcoming new reservations." 

The prospect of parks being kept open with minimal staff in the event of a government shutdown this coming weekend greatly concerned Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs for the National Parks Conservation Association.

“National parks have the highest conservation protection, and that doesn’t change with a government shutdown. If Congress is unable to do its job and fund our government, the National Park Service must do what’s necessary to protect our most treasured places," she told the Traveler in an email. "During the last shutdown when parks operated with only skeleton crews, we watched helplessly as Joshua trees were cut down, park buildings were vandalized, prehistoric petroglyphs were damaged, trash piled up, and human waste overflowed. And visitor safety at parks across the country was put at risk. We can’t allow history to repeat itself.”