The Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona reopened Saturday after the state said it would pay $651,000 for one week of its operating expenses.
However, all other national parks in Arizona, including Petrified Forest National Park, remain closed because of the federal government shutdown, reported the Arizona Republic. So while Williams and other towns near the canyon will see some relief, Holbrook and other communities near the Petrified Forest won’t.
To give you a glimpse of the economic impact of the parks, here’s this earlier Arizona Republic story:
Visitors to Arizona’s 24 national-park units spent an average of $2.7 million daily in the past two Octobers, according to the National Parks Conservation Association. At the Grand Canyon National Park, visitors spent an average of $1.2 million daily during the same time period.
About 2,200 people who work in the park, including park service employees and concessions staff, are without jobs.
The National Park Service found that in 2011, the Grand Canyon alone generated more than $467 million and supported nearly 7,400 jobs. And those who doubt whether the shutdown affected Williams, Ariz., on Route 66 had better read this story.
The National Park Service in recent days has allowed a few states to reopen national parks, but with one big catch — the states must foot the bill. As a result, most of the national parks and historic sites maintained by the National Park Service remain closed, including such prominent Route 66 landmarks as the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Amboy Crater in Amboy, Calif., and the Lincoln Home in Springfield, Ill. The Route 66 Corridor Preservation Office also remains closed.
Here’s a listing of Route 66-related places and offices that have closed since the government shutdown commenced on Oct. 1.
The National Park Service’s website has this listing of 12 reopened national parks. It also has this message:
We sincerely regret any inconvenience the closures cause and look forward to once again welcoming you to your national parks. In the meantime, we respectfully request that you honor all park closures. With more than 20,000 National Park Service employees furloughed, the staff that remain on duty are focused on protecting park resources and human life and safety and cannot provide the visitor services that you have come to expect from us for nearly 100 years.
UPDATE: Found this post by Park Advocate that asks the question: “Do visitors really need to be shut out of national parks during the government shutdown?” Reading the explanation, it’s hard to draw any other conclusion but “yes.”
(Image of the Grand Canyon by Grand Canyon National Park via Flickr)
A farce really. While it’s true Arizona was really hurting with the National Parks closed, the reality is Arizona still has closed highway rest areas, and state parks, (from the state’s budget crisis of a few years back) and has many operating only with voluteers, or the woefully underfunded Arizona Historical Society. While it is a good thing the Canyon is open, one wonders about the nearly $100k per day just to keep the Grand Canyon open for 6 days, and what that might have done for the state parks and their employees.