Shutdown Losses In National Park Admissions Estimated At $14 Million - Key To Upkeep, Restoration
The National Park Service is losing an estimated $400,000 per day in entrance fees as the partial government shutdown drags on into its 35th day, according to figures compiled by the National Parks Conservation Association. That means, so far, the Parks Service has lost an estimated $14 million in entrance fees alone.
While approximately one-third of the country’s national park sites are closed during the shutdown, many others remain open — but are largely unstaffed — meaning that entrance fees have not been collected over the course of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
The estimated economic loss to the National Park Service is so far double the impact it felt during the 16-day shutdown in 2013 when it lost an estimated $7 million in direct revenue from visitors to national parks.
Entrance fees are a vital way for generating much-needed revenue for the parks, which have long lacked the level of funding required to properly maintain them (in 2017, the Interior Department even proposed the unpopular idea of raising entrance fees to $70). The money generated from entrance fees goes towards maintenance and repairs, visitor services, habitat rehabilitation, and repair projects, among other things.
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https://thinkprogress.org/national-parks-lost-14-million-dollars-government-shutdown-025592940364/