What you can do for national parks during the shutdown

Yosemite National Park

Like you, we keep up with news about any parks – not just state parks. We’ve seen our national parks in crisis the last few weeks during the government shutdown. The situation is serious: Wildlife picking through bins piled high with trash, latrines overflowing with waste, unfettered off-roading in fragile ecosystems and more. If you share our concerns, here are some things you can do:

1.  Contact your U.S. senator and representative and urge them to find an equitable solution to end the shutdown. National parks need funding and support.
2.  We believe public lands should be open and available to all – but given current conditions, it’s worth re-considering plans until national parks are fully staffed, safe to visit and can more fully be enjoyed. In California our 280 state parks (as well as many other regional and local parks) are open, unaffected and waiting to be enjoyed.
3.  If you do visit a national park, be prepared to carry out what you carry in, and practice "Leave No Trace" principles to protect plant and animal life. Ask other visitors you meet to do the same.
4.  When national parks reopen, volunteer your time to clean up and restore areas damaged during the shutdown.

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook as we continue to be the best resource we can for you. Thank you for being such an important part of the parks community. Get more information about national parks during the government shutdown from National Park Foundation. 

P.S. Did you know that Yosemite used to be a state park? Set aside for public use and preservation as a California state park in 1864, it was designated as a national park in 1890, the third in the United States. Next year, it will celebrate its 130th birthday as a national park!