Hobbs won't spend Arizona taxpayer dollars to keep Grand Canyon open amid shutdown

Unlike her Republican predecessors, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs says she won’t spend state funds to keep Arizona landmarks like Grand Canyon National Park open amid a federal government shutdown.

Without a deal to extend federal funding past a midnight Tuesday deadline, much of the federal government will shutter. And while some essential employees and services will remain, non-essential functions like the parks operated by the National Park Service could close as its employees are furloughed.

While President Donald Trump kept some parks open with limited staff during a 2018 shutdown in his first term, conservationists warn it didn’t go well — parks experienced buildups of trash and human waste, as well as vandalism.

But in Arizona, agreements between the National Park Service and state government have kept Grand Canyon National Park open through past shutdowns, including the 35-day standoff in 2018-2019 under then-Gov. Doug Ducey and a 2013 shutdown while Gov. Jan Brewer was in office.

In a statement, a spokesman for Hobbs says Arizona is already struggling to make ends meet during the Trump administration — and the additional cost of keeping a federal park open is too much for the state to bear.

“The Trump administration has cut health care for hundreds of thousands of Arizonans, forced red tape and bureaucracy on the state that will cost tens of millions of dollars annually, and raised taxes on Arizona families and businesses by historic amounts through a reckless trade war,” Hobbs spokesman Christian Slater said. “As a result, the state of Arizona cannot afford to keep the state’s national parks open.”

“Arizona taxpayers cannot and should not continue bearing the cost of dysfunctional politicians in Washington, D.C., who would rather shut down the government than reach across the aisle and work together,” he added.

Hobbs previously pledged to keep the Grand Canyon open during the threat of a government shutdown under the Biden administration in 2023.

Tourism officials warn that shuttered national parks could cost the state millions of dollars in revenue. Last year alone, the Grand Canyon generated $1 billion in positive economic impact to Arizona, according to Arizona Lodging and Tourism spokesman Garrick Taylor.

“That attraction brought in 5 million visitors to the state in 2024,” Taylor said. “That’s more than 8,000 jobs that it’s responsible for.”