It’s not clear if parks like Yellowstone and Glacier would stay open if the federal government can’t reach a budget agreement.
By Robert Chaney MOUNTAIN JOURNAL
Editor’s note: This article was first published by Mountain Journal on Sept. 29, and republished by Explore Big Sky on Oct. 1 after the federal government did proceed to shut down.
The alerts page on Yellowstone National Park’s website Monday afternoon warned that Biscuit Basin was closed due to a hydrothermal explosion and that rutting bull elk are dangerous and unpredictable.
It said nothing about the possibility that the whole park might be unfunded on Wednesday morning, or what might close if the federal government shuts down. That’s what the country is facing if Congressional leaders don’t agree on the budget that funds government agencies and operations by Tuesday night. National parks, under the Interior Department, could be closed if Congress remains at an impasse. Or they could remain open with skeleton crews to operate them. At this point, nobody knows.
“There is nothing hard saying ‘this is what we’re going to do,’ so I think they have no idea how to react,” former Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk told Mountain Journal on Monday. “A lot of former employees are expecting another round of cuts. The bottom line is it depends on the rules, and I don’t know if anybody knows.”
Yellowstone officials reached by Mountain Journal refused to comment ahead of federal guidance expected this week and said they were ordered to not speak to media. Calls to Grand Teton National Park requesting comment were not returned by presstime Monday.
The federal government’s fiscal year starts Oct. 1, and Congress has not approved new spending for activity after Sept. 30 — this Tuesday. As of Monday, both the House and Senate appeared poised to fail at passing a continuing resolution keeping the government funded. Crucial votes are scheduled to take place Tuesday afternoon. If either chamber rejects the spending plan, all non-essential federal services would stop at midnight Tuesday. Congressional leaders were meeting with President Donald Trump at publication time Monday afternoon in search of a breakthrough that would avoid the shutdown.
The situation mirrors an impasse between Trump and Congress in late 2018 that resulted in a 35-day closure of the federal government, the longest such work stoppage in U.S. history. In the weeks before that incident, Yellowstone National Park and other federal outlets publicly released plans for what essential services would continue and what would close.
The 2018-19 shutdown took place over the Christmas holidays and through most of January. Although Yellowstone stayed officially open, winter conditions put most of its roads and facilities out of tourists’ reach. This time, the closure could take effect when the park has two weeks of scheduled shoulder season service on the calendar. Private tour guides are still running wildlife-watching trips and activities, and motorists still have full access to the park’s road network through next month. The Gardiner entrance is typically open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and its gates are not locked at night. Mammoth’s visitor center is scheduled to operate year-round and the backcountry office was expected to close Oct. 13. The West Yellowstone entrance National Park Service office is scheduled to close October 31 for the summer season although its backcountry office is set to close Oct. 13.
“October can be an incredibly busy month around a national park,” Wenk said. “A lot of businesses depend on that shoulder season for what their profit margin will be for that year. The late seasons really can affect their bottom line. I feel for them.”
Other federal employees would be designated essential, meaning they would have to report to work but not get paid. Yellowstone International Airport in Bozeman, for example, has about 100 Transportation Security Administration and Federal Aviation Administration workers who would have to stay on duty throughout a shutdown, according to Airport Director Brian Sprenger. Flights and security checks would not be affected, he told Mountain Journal.
As recently as 2024, when the Biden administration faced a similar budget negotiation with Republicans in Congress, the Interior Department released a contingency plan for the National Park Service stating what workers should report to their jobs and how to secure offices among other logistical details. Overall, the potential shutdown last year would have furloughed about 737,000 federal workers nationwide.
The 2018-2019 shutdown also took place after some parts of the federal government had received their annual funding or had other sources of income. The Trump administration allowed the National Park Service to use some of its entrance fee revenue to pay for maintenance and law enforcement staff as the shutdown dragged on. Nevertheless, visitor impacts at Yellowstone grew to the point that surrounding communities rallied volunteers to clean toilets and pick up trash. The Government Accountability Office later ruled that Interior officials illegally used those recreation fees to keep NPS services running.
In a 2013 budget fight between the Obama administration and Republicans in Congress, national parks had to turn away millions of visitors at more than 400 parks, national monuments and other sites. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Government estimated the shutdown resulted in more than $500 million in lost visitor spending nationwide.
Further complicating the current situation, Trump’s Office of Management and Budget sent notices in late September advising federal agencies to consider permanently eliminating positions during the shutdown. It “directed agencies to consider issuing [Reduction In Force] notices to all employees in programs, projects, or activities” that didn’t have extra funds or were “consistent with the President’s priorities.”
That could have particular impact on the National Park Service, whose roughly 20,000 full-time employees make up almost a third of the Interior Department personnel. Last week, Government Executive reported Interior intends to continue cutting staff after a court order in May paused its RIF efforts. The department has already shed about 7,500 employees, including at least 4,000 NPS workers.
“It’s unconscionable for the administration, after overseeing a 24% loss of the Park Service, to threaten another cudgeling that could mean thousands of additional Park Service personnel are fired,” said John Garder of the National Park Conservation Association. “The Park Service is already struggling to take care of the resource and falling behind as they try to prioritize visitor services.”
