On Saturday, the barricades at UtahÂ’s Natural Bridges National Monument disappeared, allowing visitors to return to the tourist draw despite the government shutdown. They also came down at ColoradoÂ’s Rocky Mountain National Park, ArizonaÂ’s Grand Canyon and New YorkÂ’s Statue of Liberty.The One taketh away, and The One giveth back.
What began as a sort of modern Sagebrush Rebellion — with Utah county commissioners threatening to bring in a posse and dismantle federal barricades themselves — has become an intense negotiation between Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and governors across the country eager to reopen public lands that generate valuable tourism revenue.
See? That's why you don't bring a knife to a gunfight.
National Park Service director Jarvis signed an agreement in which Utah provides nearly $1.7 million for 10 days of operation at eight federal properties: Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef and Zion national parks, along with Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and the Cedar Breaks and Natural Bridges national monuments.
Colorado signed a similar pact, offering to pay the federal government $362,700 to reopen Rocky Mountain National Park for 10 days. Arizona will pay $651,000 to operate the Grand Canyon for seven days, while New York agreed to pay $369,300 to reopen the Statue of Liberty for six days. South Dakota will reopen Mount Rushmore on Monday, paying $152,000 to operate it for 10 days.
Heaven knows the Feds couldn't find that kind of money when they were about to default on their credit card!
While the Park Service had originally resisted the idea of accepting donations from outside groups or individual states to reopen sites, the Interior Department reversed course as the shutdown dragged on
During the last series of federal shutdowns in 1995 and 1996, only one national park — Grand Canyon — was allowed to reopen after then-Gov. Fife Symington (R) mobilized the state National Guard and threatened to physically take over parts of the South Rim. Bruce Babbitt, then the Interior secretary, negotiated an agreement under which Arizona raised state and private funds to operate the park for a month.
Babbitt was himself from Arizona. One brother was governor and the other one was a Coconino County Commissioner. I had a brief conversation with the other one circa 1985.
Rob Arnberger, who served as Grand Canyon’s superintendent between 1994 and 2000, said he received a call from Jarvis at the beginning of the week “trying to recollect what happened” in the mid-1990s so Interior could include the same legal requirements. Arnberger noted that federal officials insisted on being shielded from any legal liability during the shutdown and insisted an entire park — rather than portions of it — be reopened.
Sounds like "My way or the highway" to me!
Arnberger, who hails from a three-generation Park Service family, said he was disappointed that some of the politicians pushing hardest for the parks seem to value only the tourist dollars they draw. “What about Petrified Forest National Park? What about Saguaro National Park?” he asked. “I find it distressful the discussion of parks focuses only on their economic value.”
I suppose he thinks we should've opened up some inaccessible park because it had more intrinsic (i.e., liberal) value. How else does one measure value, except with a dollar, you dolt? Dollars is also roughly equivalent to the number of visitors, birdbrain.