Congressional impasse shuts down Park

The birds still sang, the elk still bugled, but a federal government shut down at midnight Monday effectively closed Glacier National Park to all but a select few people.

Campers and other Park visitors had 48 hours to leave the Park, and visitors who show up Tuesday will not be allowed through the gates, Park spokeswoman Denise Germann said.

The Park is keeping on a “very” skeleton staff to patrol the boundary and monitor entrance stations, Germann said. About 250 Park workers will go on nonpay furlough, and about 25 will remain on duty.

While the Park’s Web site will go down and its social media will not be updated during the shut down, Germann said she would stay on and take phone calls for public information purposes.

Some work will continue in the Park. The Going-to-the-Sun Road reconstruction project will continue because it’s funded through the Federal Highway Administration. Some weather research in the Park that requires daily monitoring also will continue, but most of the Park’s employees will be furloughed until the shutdown ends.

The lodges, hotels and motels in Glacier Park have already closed for the season, and private inholders will still have access to their property, Germann said,

Nationwide, with 401 national parks closing, more than 20,000 National Park Service employees were furloughed, leaving about 3,000 to handle essential health, safety and security functions. About 12,000 concession workers were also affected.

The Forest Service will see a similar reduction in staff, but locally, Flathead National Forest spokeswoman Teresa Wenum said no state-specific plans were immediately available.

The government shut down came to a head Monday as House Republicans and Senate Democrats squared off over the federal budget as the fiscal year drew to a close. Republicans want to de-fund or at least delay the Affordable Care Act for a year, but Democrats say forcing a shutdown is not following the appropriate legislative process.

For Glacier Park visitors, the shutdown comes at an inopportune time — this is the first fall in years that the Sun Road is open to motor vehicles on the west side all the way to Logan Pass.

Weather closed the Sun Road at The Loop over the weekend, with more than eight inches of snow at Logan Pass, but the Park had plans to plow the road back to the pass once weather conditions improved.

On the plus side, according to the U.S. Postal Service, mail delivery will continue.