Boundary Waters is open I think by its nature you really couldn’t shut it down and within the Boundary Waters you don’t even have trash cans.
Good answer! … but as you said, many are running. I wonder how they decided?
Apparently, some of these shutdowns are unprecedented.
At least in my world, the DOI website is running, the agency websites are being redirected to it. I would not be surprised that those agencies that are “more essential” have kept their websites up.
Just for laughs - this is the exact language I was told to post on our Facebook page:
“Because of the federal government shutdown this National Park Service Facebook page is inactive. We’ll start the conversation again when we get back.”
It sings, don’t it.
As for things being closed this time that weren’t last time - I would say it is a sad reflection on the growing level of rancor in Washington. I am sure someone out there will mumble something about increased security since 1995, but not me. Though there were the idiots who threw paint on the Lincoln Memorial . . .
IMHO, zero. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it looks increasingly likely that this is going to continue for another two weeks.
Here is what is really chapping my hide today. Short story short, Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Tex), with an American flag in his pocket, chastises a park ranger for turning away veterans. The ranger says, “It’s difficult.” Neugebauer tells the ranger she should be ashamed.
Look, fucknugget, if there’s anyone who should be ashamed it’s the politicians who made the decisions that closed down our national parks, and then show up with American flags to criticize someone who makes probably one-quarter of the pay you do for carrying out the law that YOU forced them to!
Unbelievable.
Get out of here with your facts and logic, jackbooted thug!
Those are government issue jackboots, so I had to turn them in on Tuesday.
“Barefoot thug” doesn’t really have the same ring to it.
I posted this in another thread, but it’s more on topic here:
I have an English friend here who is about to take his Thai girlfriend on a three-week tour of a huge chunk of the US West and Midwest. They leave two weeks from now. Yellowstone, the Badlands, Mt Rushmore and others feature heavily on their itinerary, and he’s already booked and paid for a night in a lodge inside Sequoia National Park. They’re watching developments closely.
He says if they end up closing Las Vegas, that will be the final straw and the trip’s canceled!
Any word on whether these guards are armed, WreckingCrew?
As of this posting the House is planning to recess for the weekend. The government shutdown will still be there on Monday.
The General Services Administration posted out guidelines last week to all federal agencies about management of government web sites during the shut down. The guidelines range from turning turning off web servers, to posting redirect notices on sites (so no public access) to keeping sites open (but frozen and with a disclaimer on the home page), to actively maintaining public safety information on selected sites. One criteria that I recall was whether the site has a health and safety component and excepted staff are working to ensure health and safety.
I cannot speak directly to the NPS site redirect, but it’s been my experience that many government web users are complete idiots who can’t put two and two together. If a site appears up and functional, it’s assumed the agency supporting the site is also up and functional. If the NPS kept their site up, but frozen, quite a few people would still attempt to visit national parks because the web site is running (even though it would contain a disclaimer to the contrary).
I’m sure you think websites just happen, just like many others in this thread seem to think national parks just happen, but some computer janitor who checks server logs, patches machines, updates published information, and responds to attacks or discovered vulnerabilities is furloughed right now.
Some agencies have left their sites up with banners that say “This information will fall out of date because of the government shutdown;” some seem to have not done anything, but the responsible thing if you know you’re going to have zero budget authorization to do anything (not even to pay a guy to go to the office for an hour and unplug cords) is probably to pull the site down as part of your agency wind-down procedure.
Likewise it’s better to rope off the Grand Canyon than to let hicks roll in and fill up the thing with beer cans.
If they are commissioned Law Enforcement Rangers, than yup. The fine for trespassing is $500 and/or up to 6 months in jail.
I don’t have the exact breakdown in front of me, but what I saw was a little over 3,200 NPS employees were exempted, 2/3 of which were LE, EMS, and fire fighters. The other folks are mostly management in DC and the regional offices, and those people doing work that can’t be shut down.
Right now the only person working at the two parks I am involved with is a maintenance worker - but he is like Jackie Chan with a weed whacker so consider yourself warned.
It’s even more surprising that privately-funded campgrounds on national parks (that receive no federal funding and employ no public servants) are being forced to close.
The Anti-Deficiency Act makes it a felony to spend taxpayer money without an appropriation from Congress.
As a result, the National Park Service can only provide “essential services”. Hopefully people can agree that protecting the parks and the park infrastructure (roads, buildings, trails, vehicles, environmental resources, etc) is an essential service. Allowing people to enjoy the park isn’t.
posted from my personal phone during the 1st break i’ve taken 6 hrs into what promises to be a very long day.
i’m an excepted employee, so i know i’ve got it good. i’m well compensated, and at some time in the future, i’ll get paid for this time. but there are 12 of us here trying to do the work of 63. guess what? it ain’t all getting done perfectly. and our work resembles a pipeline. it depends on many folk handing it off to the next person in line. and if you interrupt it for a period, it doesnt just start flowing again at top flow when folk are allowed back to work.
but here’s what chaps me. i’ve been making decisions today that affect some very disadvantaged folk. someone else effectuates those decisions. i don’t know how to, and even if i did, if i tried to, i would just be delayimg the work i do know how to do. so even if i decide in someone’s favor today, i can’t guarantee when they’ll see the effect of my decision.
and the most frequent complaint i hear is about parks and vacations. talk about your 1st world problems!
time to get back to shovelling away at a mountain that just keeps getting higher and higher no matter how hard we 12 work.
No surprise - they are a concessionaires within the park boundary. If the park is closed, they too need to close. It is in their contract.
Imagine that a state owned highway rest area is shut down - either for the night, or for good. The McDonald’s doesn’t get to stay open just because the employees there work for McDonald’s, not the state.
Fortunately there’s no reason to argue about what’s essential! It’s a defined term from the Office of Management and Budget.
Nope…don’t think that much of anything “just happens”.
Nor do I think that the Administration is managing things other than to take care of their favorites and try to win the political battle. They were pretty quick to open that site up for just the WWWII veterans when it suited them politically.
Bare bones skeletal crew. Consider Redwood National and State Park in California. Burl poachers think nothing of cutting down a 500 year old tree to cut off a burl that is too high for them to climb and cut off. A burl is a growth that has pretty swirl patterns when highly polished.
I’m sorry to hear that. If you have a Republican Congressman, it might be a good time to write to him and let you know what you think about his actions.