As of Tuesday morning, the federal government is shut down. And so too is Grand Canyon National Park. Gov. Katie Hobbs says she will not spend state money to keep the park open during the shutdown.
President Donald Trump did keep some parks open during a shutdown in his first term, but some advocates say that was problematic. And a number of former national park superintendents sent a letter last month to the Interior secretary urging the parks to close during a shutdown.
Robert Arnberger is one of those who signed the letter; he served as superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park for six years in the '90s. He joined The Show to talk more about his concerns.
Full conversation
MARK BRODIE: So what, what is the danger of keeping a place like Grand Canyon open during a federal government shutdown? Like why is that a bad thing?
ROBERT ARNBERGER: Well, I mean, let, let's, keep in, some, some level of perspective here. Grand Canyon is one of the largest and most heavily visited national parks in the nation, and national parks don't run by themselves.
There are hardworking National Park Service employees that keep them safe, clean, accessible, and the park staff is managing everything from routine maintenance of buildings and trails to educational programs that teach visitors how to visit safely and attentively. And the staff is involved with resource protection, of protecting that nationally significant resource and in the science that is required in order to carry that out.
So, the perspective is also one that, at this time of the year, there's some 3,000 people living on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, providing visitor services for the concessioner. There's people in hotels and so forth, and the reality is if the government is shut down, then those parks need to be closed in order to fully protect those places.
BRODIE: Is there a danger if the park is closed? I mean, none of us knows how long the shutdown will last, but it seems like there might be some danger in having it closed and having people not necessarily looking after it during the closure for when it's ready to reopen.
ARNBERGER: Well, and you bring up a very significant point. The question is, what are the essential services that are going to be required to stay on duty there versus the nonessential services that the people that will be put on furlough?
So, closing the park is one thing, but making sure that the closure is honored and is safely carried out. And believe it or not, there are people on the river right now. There are people in backcountry trails, and those essential services by the protection rangers are going to be involved in finding those people, making contact with those people and making sure that the closure is an orderly one and is well thought and is carried out in a positive way.
BRODIE: Yeah, so what does it take to actually close a national park like Grand Canyon? It sounds like it's not an easy undertaking.
ARNBERGER: Well, it isn't, and I lived through it personally with my own career in 1995. The government couldn't come to a conclusion about funding at that time. And I've lived through it, and as I said, it's complicated. For instance, there are visitors that are in the hotels there in Grand Canyon. There's a public school in Grand Canyon. There are 3,000-some people who live there, concessioner and Park Service employees. And then you have a daily lineup of visitors that are seeking to come in through two different entrances.
And so you don't just all of a sudden close the door and stand there with your arms over your chest and say it's closed. You've got responsibilities in making sure that people are moved out, that in fact people are honorably handled and managed. And then you also have to prevent people from coming in. So it is a complicated piece of business, and it doesn't happen in a day. It happens in an orderly process over multiple days.
BRODIE: What happens to the people you mentioned there, people who live in the park? What happens to those people during a shutdown?
ARNBERGER: The people that are living in the park are people that are contractor people working for the concession under contract and also National Park Service staff. And what happens to those people is they're sitting there wondering what is going to happen to them tomorrow or the next day. And they're living from paycheck to paycheck like the rest of America's citizens, and they're putting their kids into a public school there.
And they're sitting there wanting to know what's going on, and it's very important for the National Park Service to take the leadership in terms of the communications bridge with all of those residents and employees of not only the concession but of the National Park Service.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Robert Arnberger's name.
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