Southern Nevada parks starting to see effects of shutdown
Many national parks and refuges, including Lake Mead National Recreation Area and Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, remained mostly open Saturday following the federal government shutdown over funding.
But the effects of the shutdown, which started at midnight Friday, are starting to show.
Lake Mead
At Lake Mead, for example, although the public could visit the park, the visitors center and public restrooms were closed.
“Lake Mead National Recreation Area will remain as accessible as possible while still following all applicable laws and procedures. Main park roads are open,” Lake Mead spokeswoman Christie Vanover said in a statement issued Saturday. “However, services that require National Park Service staffing and maintenance, such as the visitor center and full-service restrooms, will not be operating.”
Private marinas in the area might stay open at their discretion, Vanover added by telephone.
Tule Springs
Vanover also said Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument would remain open during its normal hours from dawn to dusk during the shutdown.
Red Rock Canyon
Red Rock officials tweeted Saturday morning that its scenic loop and visitors center would close Monday barring a resolution. By the afternoon, Red Rock had tweeted that it would close its visitors center and restrooms starting Sunday. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the scenic loop would remain open.
A call to the Bureau of Land Management’s field office for further clarification on Red Rock and Gold Butte National Monument’s immediate fate given the shutdown was not returned.
*Update 2pm 1/20/18: We have received updated information that the Visitor Center and related facilities in Red Rock Canyon, including restrooms, will be closed starting Sunday 1/21/18 until further direction is received. We will share as soon as we hear anything new. pic.twitter.com/JqoO3PBZ52
— Red Rock Canyon LV (@RedRockCynLV) January 20, 2018
Visitors to Red Rock expressed a mix of displeasure and disappointment over the shutdown and the potential closure of the recreation area Monday.
“Government needs to get their act together,” said Lisa Sarvadi, who came with a group of friends to hike at Red Rock.
She blamed the Democrats for the shutdown.
“I do think that this was the Democrats’ plan all along, and I think they’ve been very successful with what they’ve planned on doing,” the 50-year-old Houston resident said.
Asked whether she believes the two sides will find a solution, Sarvadi said, “It’ll be interesting to see what they plan on doing because there’s so much divisiveness and lack of working for the greater good. I think everybody’s working for their own agenda, and it’s not working out well.”
“Foolishness” was 71-year-old Dan Chanofsky’s one-word take on the shutdown, which he blames on Republicans. “And I’m a Republican.”
“They knew what had to be done four months ago. … You have a budget, you’ve got to get it done,” said Chanofsky, a 71-year-old Mahopac, New York, resident. “And they waited, and they waited, and they hemmed and they hawed, figuring, oh every side will give in, and it was just never going to happen.”
Now, he said, everyone’s going to dig in their heels. “Now there will be very little give.”
Florida resident Diane Shamlel, 45, said she had just learned of the shutdown and knew little about it.
“I’m hopeful they can get to a solution and get back up and working because we need the country to be up and running,” she said outside the visitors center. “We can’t have this.”
For Las Vegas native Allison Messmore, the impending Red Rock closure will affect her livelihood.
“We only offer electric bike tours of Red Rock Canyon, so it could affect us for sure,” she said as she waited in the business’ Red E Bike Tours van outside the visitors center.
Messmore said she weathered the government shutdown in 2013 and will be on “pins and needles” Sunday night waiting to see a resolution.
Messmore is hopeful the two sides will come to a compromise decision.
During the last shutdown, she said, everybody was blaming the Republicans and then everyone was blaming the Democrats. “I think we’re both to blame, aren’t we. We’re both pretty polarized, and we both maybe need to meet and work it out. I’m feeling like they’ll figure it out,” she said.
If no resolution comes, she said, “I’ll have to cancel people for my tour, unless I find an alternate route,” possibly a ride farther up the road to Spring Mountain Ranch State Park.
Chad Brian, of Wheatley, Ontario, was bemused. The 43-year-old Canadian learned of the impending shutdown when he arrived at Red Rock to hike.
“I was surprised. I had no idea that shutdowns occurred,” Brian said. “I guess it could have affected my day in a big way, but I lucked out.”
Spring Mountains
The shutdown seemed to portend closures at many parks after the weekend. A woman answering the phone Saturday at Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, which includes Mount Charleston and is run by the U.S. Forest Service, said the park would shut down Monday without a budget resolution.
2013 shutdown
When the federal government shut down last, in October 2013, Red Rock’s Scenic Drive vehicle entrance was locked for 16 days and Bureau of Land Management rangers ticketed prospective hikers who entered on foot.
At Lake Mead during the last shutdown, park rangers cleared out campgrounds and kept boaters off the water across the 1.5-million-acre reserve. This time, Park Service facilities will be closed at Lake Mead National Recreation Area and most of the roads will stay open, Vanover said Friday.
What will happen Monday at Lake Mead is so far unclear, she said.
“We’re taking it day by day,” Vanover said Saturday.
Great Basin, Death Valley
The fates at out-of-town parks seemed unclear. Death Valley National Park, 100 miles west of Las Vegas, tweeted, “During a federal government shutdown, we do not monitor or update social media. Some Death Valley areas are accessible, however, access may change without notice, and there are no (National Park Service)-provided services.”
On Friday, Nichole Andler, spokeswoman for Great Basin National Park, 300 miles north of Las Vegas, said the park’s roads and campgrounds that aren’t closed for the winter will remain open, but she said visitors won’t be able to tour the Lehman Caves.
On Saturday, Great Basin tweeted a statement matching Death Valley National Park’s. Both parks are run by the National Park Service.
Contact Matthew Crowley at mcrowley@reviewjournal.com. Follow @copyjockey on Twitter. Contact Marian Green at mgreen@reviewjournal.com Follow mgreen0708
Shutdown's effects on military
Active duty Air Force and National Guard personnel will continue to report to work during the government shutdown, though most civilian personnel will be furloughed, officials said Saturday.
Information offices at Nellis Air Force Base and Creech Air Force Base were closed Saturday, and phone calls seeking comment on the shutdown were unanswered or not returned. But a letter signed by Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Gen. David Goldfein, the Air Force chief of staff, said active-duty personnel, including reservists, would continue reporting for service.
However, they wrote, all nonexcepted civilian personnel would be furloughed until appropriations are restored.
"We are concerned about all of you who are affected by this action," the statement, posted online, read.
Lt. Col. Mickey Kirchenbaum of the Nevada National Guard said although active guard reserve personnel will continue to work, civilian dual status reservists will be furloughed. Also, he said, extra training or drills will be off.
"We can't have them work and say, 'We'll pay you later,'" Kirchenbaum said of the dual status personnel.
Because essential personnel will remain on the job, he said, the National Guard will remain ready to respond to emergencies.
— Matthew Crowley
