Park Service retirees claim huge impacts by shutdown

The Coalition of National Park Service Retirees announced Oct. 10 that the 10-day long partial shutdown of the federal government had shut out 7 million visitors nationwide and cost gateway communities $750 million in lost spending by visitors.

According to the group, 60,273 visitors were shut out of Glacier National Park in first 10 days, costing the local economy more than $3 million in lost visitor spending and 1,994 jobs, including 1,632 local non-National Park Service jobs.

These impacts to Glacier Park were cited despite other factors affecting the local economy, including the early closure of Park campgrounds due to federal budget sequestration, snow closing the Going-to-the-Sun Road at The Loop, cold and rainy weather, and the seasonal closure of Park concessions.

One RV campground owner in the Canyon reported only “making about $1.50” in one day and shutting down her campground before the Oct. 1 shutdown took effect.

Dee Brown noted that the big difference this year is that construction would not have closed the Sun Road on the west side this fall as it had in past years, which will create an opportunity for a bigger shoulder tourist season. But it might take a few years for tourists to get used to that idea, she said.

CNPSR provided figures on impacts to 12 national parks in Montana, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. Nationwide, local economies lost about $76 million in visitor spending per day.

The group reported that $450,000 in revenue that would have gone directly to the National Park Service was lost each day, including $300,000 in entrance fees and $150,000 in other in-park expenditures, such as campground fees and boat rentals.

“These figures are mind boggling and they only begin to capture the full economic shock of locking up the crown jewels of America – our national parks,” said CNPSR chairwoman Maureen Finnerty, a former superintendent of Everglades and Olympic national parks. “Towns, cities and even whole states that depend on park tourism are feeling an increasingly strong pinch. And if Congress continues to hold our national parks hostage, these communities will soon be reeling from what is in many cases the main driver of their economies.”