Acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt has issued a memorandum allowing park managers at National Park Service sites around the country to dip into entrance fees in order to operate the parks during the partial government shutdown, The Washington Post reported Sunday, a move which a key Democrat overseeing the Interior Department said is “likely” illegal.
Entrance fees utilized by parks, in the memo’s words, will be used “to provide basic visitor services in a manner that maintains restrooms and sanitation, trash collection, road maintenance, campground operations, law enforcement and emergency operations, and staffing entrance gates as necessary to provide critical safety information.”
After the Post obtained Bernhardt’s memo, and NPS Deputy Director Daniel Smith confirmed it to the paper, saying: “As the lapse in appropriations continues, it has become clear that highly visited parks with limited staff have urgent needs that cannot be addressed solely through the generosity of our partners … We are taking this extraordinary step to ensure that parks are protected, and that visitors can continue to access parks with limited basic services.”
This “extraordinary step” could be a violation of the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, the Post noted, because that law limits the use of entrance fees for “repair, maintenance, and facility enhancement related directly to visitor enjoyment, visitor access, and health and safety,” visitor information and habitat restoration, among other things.
“The Department of Interior is very likely violating appropriations law,” Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN), the new chair of the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies, told the Post, adding: “We are certainly going to be doing oversight as the acting secretary moves forward with this, and he will be hearing from me directly.”
Citing an unnamed Park Service official, the Post reported that the Interior Department’s solicitor had authorized the memo. The paper said “hundreds” of NPS staff could return to work as a result.
Jon Jarvis, the National Park Service director during former President Barack Obama’s two terms, told the Post using entrance fees to operate some parks during a shutdown was “a slippery slope.” Parks were closed during the 2013 government shutdown.
The Associated Press and other outlets have reported on “human feces, overflowing garbage, illegal off-roading and other damaging behavior in fragile areas” as a result of parks staying partially open to visitors despite the government shutdown.
[Pictured above: JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK, CA – JANUARY 04: Volunteers Alexandra (R) and Ruth Degen prepare to clean a restroom at Joshua Tree National Park on January 4, 2019 in Joshua Tree National Park, California. Volunteers with ‘Friends of Joshua Tree National Park’ have been cleaning bathrooms and trash at the park as the park is drastically understaffed during the partial government shutdown. Campgrounds and some roads have been closed at the park due to safety concerns. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)]
