National Park Service to close most sites amid potential government shutdown, affecting staffing and services.

The National Park Service is planning to close the gates at a majority of its 425 park sites in the event of a likely government shutdown this weekend. If Congress does not pass a new funding bill by the end of Saturday, an “orderly shutdown” of the NPS park sites will begin over the weekend and carry into Monday. The department said the closures would not affect all NPS sites, including open-air memorials on the National Mall, along with park roads, campgrounds and other locations where it’s “impossible or impractical” to restrict public access. The number of employees at individual sites would vary, due to large differences in their size, location and accessibility, and even at sites that remain accessible to the public, “staffing levels and services, including restroom and sanitation maintenance, road maintenance, campground operations and emergency operations will vary and are not guaranteed. The decision by the Interior Department marks a reversal from the Trump administration, which opted to keep most parks open during a 35-day shutdown that began in December of 2018 and extended into 2019.