Yosemite, other national parks to remain partially open, understaffed amid shutdown
Yosemite and other national parks will remain partially open with skeleton crews during the government shutdown, according to a National Park Service contingency plan, a move the National Parks Conservation Association says could cause irreparable damage to the parks.
If you plan to visit a national park while the government shutdown is ongoing, which in Central California includes Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, no visitor services will be provided.
That means the NPS will not issue permits, conduct educational programs, collect trash, operate or provide restrooms, maintain roads and walkways or provide visitor information, the contingency plan says.
Plus, don’t count on the parks’ websites to be updated with accurate information on what is and is not open. Park websites and social media will not be maintained, except for emergency communications. Additionally, parks will not provide regular road or trail condition updates, the contingency plan says.
At the time of the shutdown, an alert on all National Park websites was posted: “National parks remain as accessible as possible during the federal government shutdown. However, some services may be limited or unavailable.”
Overall, National Park Service staff set to be furloughed amounts to 64% of employees. Staff that is kept on will perform only exempted duties such as law enforcement or emergency response, border and coastal protection and surveillance, and fire suppression and monitoring, according to the contingency plan.
National parks could lose as much as $1 million in fee revenue each day the shutdown goes on, and gateway communities could lose as much as $80 million in visitor spending, the NPCA said in a news release Wednesday.
In a 2018 shutdown from Dec. 22-Jan. 25, the Trump administration also left national parks partially open. Some workers were furloughed and some facilities closed, but mostly unsupervised visitors were still allowed to enter. As a result, the parks suffered vandalism that took years to correct. In some cases, the damage was irreversible.
“It’s not just irresponsible, it’s dangerous,” Theresa Pierno, President and CEO for NPCA said Wednesday.
If public access with limited staffing begins to pose a safety, health or resource issue, the area must close, the contingency plan specifies. At Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks during the 2018 shutdown, human waste and trash issues reached levels so problematic that the parks were eventually forced to close.
Cases of chopped-down Joshua trees, which can be more than a century old, were reported at Joshua Tree National Park. Prehistoric petroglyphs were vandalized and irreparably damaged at Big Bend National Park. At Death Valley National Park, campgrounds were kept open, but restrooms were closed, leading to sanitation issues. Plus, many parks suffered damage to infrastructure from illegal off-roading, according to the release.
“This could mark the beginning of the end for the parks as we know and love them,” Pierno said in the statement. “Congress must immediately fund the government, fully support the Park Service and its staff, and stop any more devastating cuts, before it’s too late.”
This is a developing story
This story was originally published October 1, 2025 at 10:12 AM.