Arizona and Utah will keep iconic national parks like Grand Canyon and Zion open if the federal government shuts down. California does not plan to do the same.National park patronage rose 5% last year from 2021 to 312 million recreational visits, generating $23.9 billion for local communities, according toby the National Park Service. Those figures translated into 378,400 jobs. Hotels and restaurants were the two biggest beneficiaries of park visits, according to the report.
Tony McDaniel, a spokesperson for the Yosemite Mariposa County Tourism Bureau, said his county of 18,000 residents is dependent on the park. “I’ve been telling the tourism board in Madera County that I’ll spread the word about Bass Lake if they’ll talk up Mariposa,” he said. “We’re doing everything we can to tell the story about small-town culture.”
For Shaw, the resort owner, the government shutdown is the latest in a series of “devastating setbacks” over the last three-plus years.