It’s not clear how long national parks can hold out during this government shutdown.
The Trump administration has kept National Park Service locations mostly accessible to the public since a lapse in federal funding last week shuttered the U.S. government and sent most of the agency’s at least 14,000-strong workforce of permanent employees home on forced furlough.
With lawmakers still at loggerheads over a funding deal that would reopen services, parks are dipping into recreation fees to keep on small crews of park rangers and honor the Interior Department’s pledge to keep parks as open as possible.
But it’s unclear how long that status quo can last, presenting a tricky complication for the Trump administration if the federal government shutdown continues for an extended period of time.
