Park rangers at Zion National Park returned to work with smiles on their faces last week after the federal government shutdown came to an end.
“Getting back into the normal swing of things is certainly a beautiful thing,” said Natalie Britt, CEO of Zion Forever Project, “and you can feel the joy on rangers’ faces when they see folks they haven’t seen.”
Many rangers at Zion and Utah’s four other national parks not only missed paychecks throughout the 43-day shutdown, but also working alongside their colleagues. Roughly two-thirds of national park rangers across the country were furloughed, according to the National Park Service’s shutdown plan.
Zion kept on critical staff to keep visitors safe, such as search and rescue and custodial crews. “Staff worked diligently to safeguard natural and cultural resources, protect wildlife, and maintain sanitation, visitor safety, and emergency response,” Matt Fink, spokesperson for the park, said in a statement. “The NPS leveraged partnerships, streamlined internal coordination, and reduced red tape to sustain critical operations.”
While the end of the shutdown brings some immediate relief, a long recovery is just beginning.
“Furloughed park staff now face the daunting task of returning to parks to assess and address the damage, a process that could take months,” said Kristen Brengel, the National Parks Conservation Association’s senior vice president of government affairs, in a news release last week.
The full toll of the shutdown on national parks is still being assessed. Zion lost an estimated $1.7 million in fee revenue during October alone, according to Britt. Those fees, Britt added, cover critical park operations such as the shuttle service, trail maintenance, resource protection and visitor safety.
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This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.