USAtoday.com:
National park supervisors are preparing to open roads later, close visitor centers, furlough park police and hire fewer seasonal workers to meet the 5% sequestration budget cuts mandated by Congress and President Obama.
National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis issued a memo Friday stating that about 1,000 fewer seasonal workers will be hired this year, down from 10,000 last year. In a memo to Park Service employees, he said furloughs should be expected among park police, and that a $12 billion backlog in park maintenance will worsen.
There were an estimated 279 million visitors to national parks in 2011, the last year figures were available. Visitors this year are already seeing sequestration-related cuts; at some sites, the 5% reduction will be less obvious right away:
— The National Capital Region, which oversees parks and Civil War battlefields in and around Washington, D.C., is contemplating everything from less lawn-mowing and garbage pickup in Rock Creek Park to limiting hours of, or closing altogether, the visitor center at Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland, according to Park Service spokeswoman Jennifer Mummart. She said the region may hire only half the 400-450 seasonal employees it normally does.
The National Parks are truly an American treasure. Yet, as the tourist season approaches, most of our national parks, monuments and battlefields are scrambling to make make adjustments to save money that just isn’t coming their way.
Officials at the Grand Teton National Park are thinking about closing 2 out of 5 visitor stations. Grand Teton NP is a fairly remote area once you get out of Jackson Hole (major tourist trap). Meanwhile up the road at Yellowstone National Park, crews have delayed plowing by 2 weeks already. They hope that natural melting might happen to save them huge snow-plowing fees.
Around Washington, DC, even garbage pick up might be delayed, as well as less frequent lawn moving. the garbage situation will get nasty. There already is not adequate trash pick up at some of the memorials. The WWII Memorial comes to mind.
Hopefully, the situation in DC will be seen by the fools in Congress who are allowing this situation to happen. May garbage pile up right under their noses. It might be worth a trip downtown just to dump off a few empty pizza boxes to fill up some of the trash cans. If Congress is bothered, something will be done.
