Goverment Shutdowns

Last time there was no real warning. They just came out with signs and crime scene tape and roped off entrances, even to those places where no government employees required to open. Kinda like a kid throwing a tantrum.

Do you have a backup?

jplante4 wrote:
Kinda like a kid throwing a tantrum.

Not kind of like that... EXACTLY THAT.

jplante4 wrote:
.........Do you have a backup?

Brazil is nice.

In October 2013, we stopped at Glacier NP, and they were running skeleton staff in the St Mary Visitor Center, late in the afternoon. The turnstile gates weren't manned, so we just drove in for a snoop.

Great time for a trip to Mexico.

A direct answer to your question: YES!
I am a retired USFS Recreation and Wilderness program manager. My wife and I were camping at a Corps of Engineers campground which actually remained open during the last government shutdown. It was a normal camping experience.

While we were out and about, we came across a USFS campground that was closed because of the shutdown. There was no sign or anything, but the gate across the entrance road was closed. We thought we'd like to check the campground out to see if we'd like to camp there in the future. So we parked our pickup truck outside the gate and walked around the campground loop to look at the sites. During this time, I needed to go to the bathroom (you know the problem with older guys!) so I went into the vault toilet to use the facility. When I came out, a USFS Law Enforcement Officer was standing there talking with my wife and telling her that we couldn't be in the campground because of the shutdown. We explained that we weren't camping, just walking through the area to look at the camping spurs. Made no difference. He escorted us out. We returned to the COE campground (also a US govt. operation) and continued to enjoy our camping experience there.

So yes, the campground was closed (and blocked) from anyone entering with a vehicle, and they even said that we couldn't walk through the campground.

We were kicked out of Lassen Park, no warning. Just signs and threat of arrest if we crossed the entrance. Many visitors where removed from the hotel at Yosemite, and the parks were closed.

Most of the campgrounds were shut down, but a few remained open as long as possible down the Rte 395 spine on east side of Sierras because so many campers were without a place to camp while returning home, including us. Rest areas and other turn-outs filled each night with campers locked out of reserved sites.

State parks filled immediately, as did most private parks ... so it was tough even to find a back-up. We were in California at the time, on a coast to coast trip from Florida. We limped home catching open camp areas occasionally (no national camp areas) and over night rest stops. Not a pleasant experience.

To the ones who experienced problems during the shutdowns, a question,
In COE parks the rangers are LE Rangers predominantly, and the smaller locations staffed by unpaid camp host, in those cases did they shut down as well? or just the larger full staff locations? Contractors in many areas perform most maintenance, restrooms, mowing etc, were they closed out?

During these shutdowns, payments for entitlement programs dont stop, from Social Security to disability etc, and supposedly LE is not shut down, so Rangers should still be out and about in their LE mode. Closing many of the parks I had thought was a largely political act to stir the public. I dont know that it will be done that way again for that purpose, can anyone remember back past the last couple of times there were shutdowns, and how those were handeled?

TNGW1500SE wrote:

jplante4 wrote:
.........Do you have a backup?

Brazil is nice.

Last time I visited Brazil was 1994. My Brazilian buddy met us in Rio. Whenever we went out, he would tell us, "Keep your mouths shut; keep your cameras hidden;and...try not to look so American." Our hotel had a 12 foot fence with razor wire around the top.

At that time, venturing out at any time of day put you in danger of being attacked by street gangs. I met some people who were there for a convention. They said that among the 200 or so people at the convention, six had been attacked and one had been stabbed to death in a restaurant bathroom.

I certainly hope that things have improved. I would love to go back and visit the places that were so dear to me on my first visit, in 1973.

I can relate my experiences as having been an USFS employee during several govt. shutdowns. Only those people identified as "responsibilities deemed essential" are allowed to continue to work during a government shutdown. The last shutdown under Obama was a bit different, because many things did not shut down. But under previous shutdowns, very very few employees were considered essential. In federal natural resource agencies, this was mainly the key line officers (Park or Forest superintendant and a handful of District Rangers, and Law Enforcement Officers). District Rangers are line officers (usually 4 or 5 per national forest) They are NOT what people normally call a "forest ranger", who are just regular employees in uniform.

So when there is a govt. shutdown, almost all the employees at the park or forest are forced/mandated to not work, and cannot even come in to work and volunteer their time. The park or forest works with a skeleton crew.

That has been my experience through several government shutdowns.