Daily Press (Sunday)

National parks may be next in reopening battle

- By Elizabeth Williamson and Sarah Mervosh The New York Times

Pressure mounting to close wonders as infections balloon

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. — Glowing purple and scarlet in fading afternoon light, the geological marvel that is the Grand Canyon, the crown jewel of America’s national park system, draws more than 6 million global visitors in a normal year and fuels the economy of Arizona.

But now, with Arizona leading the nation in coronaviru­s infections per capita, pressure is mounting to close the Grand Canyon and other national parks in states across the South and the West that face spiking caseloads. As lockeddown Americans clamor to return to the outdoors and families seek out safe vacations from limited options, the national parks could become the latest battlegrou­nd in the fight over reopening.

When the pandemic took hold in the United States this spring, many local public health officials demanded that the parks close, saying that the millions of tourists they attract endangered vulnerable people in adjacent towns and tribal lands, often-remote places with hospitals miles away.

Lacking much guidance from Washington, where President Donald Trump has from the start resisted virus-related closures, individual parks and local health officials devised strategies on the fly. Grand Canyon initially shut down April 1.

The park partially reopened in time for summer tourist season. But now infections are surging in the states that host the nation’s most-visited natural wonders, and the country’s 62 national parks are struggling with how to safely allow visitors while preventing outbreaks.

While attendance has fallen in many parks because of the shutdowns — Grand Canyon officials estimate that its daily number of visitors could be cut in half — many people are still making the trip. At Cades Cove, a popular section of Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee, weekend visitation in May was 54% higher than the same month last year even though the park was closed for some of that time.

In some ways, the parks provide a refuge from the pandemic. Experts say the risk of catching the virus is much lower outdoors. Camping offers a cheap, socially distanced vacation for families, and some parks are in sparsely populated areas with fewer cases.

But as the virus infiltrate­s growing sections of the country, some lawmakers are questionin­g the decision to keep parks open even partially.

“I felt all along that the public health rationale for closing these places, which was obvious to everyone, was overridden by the symbolic need to have something open,” said Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., chair of the House Natural Resources Committee.

On May 15, Grijalva, on behalf of the committee, sent the Interior Department a request for the safety criteria it would apply to reopening national parks. The Interior Department replied two weeks later, calling the request “overly broad and unreasonab­ly burdensome, particular­ly at this time.”

“The administra­tion trying to shoehorn political and economic considerat­ions into its decisions, and the public health taking a back seat to those discussion­s,” Grijalva said.

In a statement, the National Park Service defended parks’ decision to remain mostly open. “With the support of Department of the Interior and National Park Service leadership, park superinten­dents are making decisions to modify operations for facilities and programs based on federal and state public health guidance.”

Parks have revised operations to better protect visitors and those living in adjacent communitie­s.

In Utah, Zion National Park is reducing visitors with a first-come, first-served ticketing system. In California, Yosemite National Park is taking limited reservatio­ns. Grand Canyon has closed some entrances and visitors’ centers, and restricted Colorado River trips to protect hard-hit Native American communitie­s nearby.

Still, crowds inevitably gather. On a visit to Yellowston­e National Park last month, Lynn Bacon, 61, a biologist from Bozeman, Montana, was surprised to see hundreds of people clustered together waiting for Old Faithful, the park’s most famous and punctual geyser, to erupt.

She estimated that 1% of the visitors she saw were wearing masks.

Tens of thousands of people have visited Yellowston­e since the park began a phased reopening May 18. To prevent outbreaks, the park is testing employees and the wastewater system for signs of the virus.

While the park has not been a source of a known outbreak, Dr. Travis Riddell, the health officer for Teton County, Wyoming, which includes much of Yellowston­e as well as Grand Teton National Park, said an increase in cases “very much correlates with the onset of tourist season here.”

He recently proposed a mask order for indoor public spaces that was adopted by Jackson, Wyoming. The mandate did not apply to federal land partly because of confusion about whether he had jurisdicti­on. Riddell said he would “absolutely” like to see a mask order for indoor spaces in the parks.

The tricky balance of weighing health and economic impacts is acute at Grand Canyon, which is in Coconino County, a sprawling region of 143,000 people. The park and the tourist economy it creates provide 12,000 jobs in the county, said Elizabeth Archuleta, the chair of the county’s Board of Supervisor­s.

The park closed April 1 after county health officials suggested, then demanded, that it do so as infections in the park and county began rising. Grand Canyon began a phased reopening on Memorial Day weekend.

What Archuleta said she needed from Washington was the flexibilit­y to close Grand Canyon again should cases begin spiraling out of control.

“We’re here in the West and the decision-makers are in the East,” Archuleta said. “Making sure local officials’ advice is being heeded — that’s the tension.”

 ?? ADRIANA ZEHBRAUSKA­S/THE NEW YORK TIMES ?? Visitors take in the beauty of Grand Canyon National Park. National parks are grappling with how to stay open safely.
ADRIANA ZEHBRAUSKA­S/THE NEW YORK TIMES Visitors take in the beauty of Grand Canyon National Park. National parks are grappling with how to stay open safely.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States