An early-week snowstorm not only blocked access to Yosemite National Park for a while, but the heavy snow did substantial damage to buildings in the park's iconic valley, toppling trees that damaged facilities and were blamed for starting a fire in employee housing.

With the Interior Department led by a recent oil industry lobbyist and the National Park Service by a past political appointee who overlooked environmental rules to please a billionaire, we're embarking on a new paradigm for managing the National Park System, one that includes changing the rules on the fly.

Sinking morale among the National Park Service ranks and accumulating human waste and garbage are just some of the symptoms of the ongoing government shutdown that has left many national parks open but without adequate staffing. Not so visible are the impacts being suffered in long-term environmental monitoring, work on visitor management plans and environmental impact statements, and even potential setbacks to the hiring of next summer's seasonal rangers.

Keeping most units of the National Park System open during the partial government shutdown is a bad idea, as accumulating human waste and garbage poses sanitation issues and some visitors are taking advantage of the lack of presence of rangers to do what they want, regardless of regulations.