National Parks during the shutdown

UPDATE 11am 10/1/13

As of Midnight, the government has gone into shutdown.

A government shutdown certainly makes teaching a class about National Parks more interesting. What does it mean for the parks? For starters, National Parks Traveler reports the NPS will furlough over 20,000 employees.

Yellowstone Insider blog reports that, "In the event there is a government shutdown tonight, visitors will be immediately asked to leave Yellowstone National Park, and those staying overnight will be asked to leave in the next few days."

USA Today says that Sandy Hook has already removed the goats that eat their poison ivy.

The Argus Leader reports that the governor of South Dakota has offered to use state funds and workers to keep Mount Rushmore open.

The Ku Klux Klan will need to find someplace other than the Gettysburg Battlefield for their rally this weekend.

The Blue Ridge Parkway, which usually gets 2 million leaf-peeping visitors in October, will still be open for driving but facilities like campgrounds will be closed. I am guessing that many of the bathrooms along the parkway will also be closed too.

In Utah a private river rafting company will have to shutdown because they need to use parklands to access the river, explains CNNMoney.

Public access will be closed, but oil drilling in parklands will continue.

With the NPS closing the park roads, the city of Estes Park is left with just one road in and out, according to KUSA.

Of course, our class field trip can't happen until the shutdown is reversed. Sorry.