Big Bend National Park set to close

Rio Grande Village is the only FHU section in the park and was run by a concessionaire the last time we were there. Why would they be shutting that one down?

Funny its closed during high fire danger months

bob_nestor wrote:
It's a big park and relies a lot on volunteer work campers. The closure is between June and October and I'd imagine it's harder than hell to get volunteers to work there during that time due to the excessive heat. As far as the camping areas that are being shut down during this time it probably won't affect people who still want to go. Cottonwood has no hookups and no generators are allowed so it would be almost impossible to live in a tin hut on wheels during this time down there. The campsites on the river at the Village that are being closed are the ones that don't allow generators and there are no hookups in this part of the park either. (The hookups are in the parking lot by the store there.) The primitive campsites throughout the park are rarely full; in all the years I've been going there I could probably count the campers I've seen on these spots on the fingers of one hand.

More information provided in this post then in the 'news release'

Thanks Bob for your levelheaded assessment.
Big Bend is a winter destination park

It's a big park and relies a lot on volunteer work campers. The closure is between June and October and I'd imagine it's harder than hell to get volunteers to work there during that time due to the excessive heat. As far as the camping areas that are being shut down during this time it probably won't affect people who still want to go. Cottonwood has no hookups and no generators are allowed so it would be almost impossible to live in a tin hut on wheels during this time down there. The campsites on the river at the Village that are being closed are the ones that don't allow generators and there are no hookups in this part of the park either. (The hookups are in the parking lot by the store there.) The primitive campsites throughout the park are rarely full; in all the years I've been going there I could probably count the campers I've seen on these spots on the fingers of one hand.

LOL and I wonder how many rowdy campers they get that far from civilization.

Bummer... how much staff does a NPS campground take to run anyway? Someone to show up and empty the iron ranger every few days, and an unpaided host to call the cops on rowdy campers and mop out the crapper now and then.

Why not turn the land over to NFS, or BLM? Smells like there's more happening behind the scenes, some politician making a play.