Joshua Tree National Park may not recover from 35 days of unsupervised shutdown use for 200-300 years

The record 35-day government shutdown cost the U.S. economy $11 billion, $3 billion of which will never be recovered, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. But not all damage is financial. National parks, for example, weren't technically closed during the shutdown — the gates were open and unstaffed, like most of the rest of the parks — and without park rangers working, some unsupervised visitors wreaked havoc, causing lasting damage to the parks and the wildlife that inhabit them. At Joshua Tree National Park, for example, vandals cut down several Joshua trees and visitors damaged rocks, hiked and drove vehicles in prohibited areas, set illegal campfires, and left trash and human waste strewn about.

"What's happened to our park in the last 34 days is irreparable for the next 200 to 300 years," former Joshua Tree National Park Superintendent Curt Sauer said Saturday, at a rally near the park to highlight the damage to Joshua Tree. Sauer praised the volunteers who stepped in to clean up trash and clean toilets especially during the first three weeks, before the National Park Service dipped into stockpiled entrance fees to pay for trash cleanup, but decried the lasting impact.

"The local community is fed up with our parks being held hostage and the fact that it's open and partially staffed is not good for the park, it's not good for the public, and it's not good for the local community here," John Lauretig, executive director of the nonprofit Friends of Joshua Tree, told the Palm Springs Desert Sun. "If the government doesn't fund or staff the parks appropriately, then they should just close the parks to protect the parks and protect the people."

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