Death Valley Back Open & Assessing Shutdown Impacts

Park rangers and partners gather outside Furnace Creek Visitor Center on the morning of Saturday, January 26.
Pictured left to right: Andrew Young, Rachel Sizemore, Ellyse Deldin, Danette Perez, Merissa, and Jason Gablonski.
NPS Photo

DEATH VALLEY, CA – After January 25th’s continuing resolution to fund the federal government, the full staff of Death Valley National Park are happy to be back at work serving the American people and welcoming visitors. It will take staff some time to reopen all facilities and provide normal services again.

The 3.4-million-acre park never closed during the shutdown, but some facilities and services were closed due to lack of funding. Some facilities were kept open by donations from Death Valley Natural History Association, The Oasis at Death Valley (owned by Xanterra), and Stovepipe Wells Resort (managed by Ortega National Parks).

“We greatly appreciate the generous contributions of park partners who have provided support during the lapse in appropriations,” said Superintendent Mike Reynolds. “Their efforts contributed significantly to our ability to maintain access and limited services to Death Valley National Park during the shutdown.”

While most areas of the park are currently open, some campgrounds won’t open until new staff are trained and water systems are operational, tested, and pass inspections.

Campgrounds:

• Sunset, Stovepipe Wells, and Emigrant are open
• Furnace Creek and Texas Springs are scheduled to open 1/31
• Mesquite will open once water system is safe
• Wildrose will open once flood debris is cleared and water system is safe
• Thorndike and Mahogany Flat are closed for the season due to snow

Ranger-guided walks and talks will resume with 3 to 5 programs daily on Saturday, February 2.

More information can be found at https://www.nps.gov/deva.

One of many coyotes in Death Valley National Park.
NPS photo by Kurt Moses

DEATH VALLEY, CA – A week after the longest government shutdown on record ended, services are back to normal in Death Valley National Park. Park staff are still assessing the government shutdown’s impacts, but preliminary reports of human waste, trash, vandalism, and impacts to wildlife are disturbing.

All visitor services have resumed in the first week after the government shutdown. Ranger-guided programs are offered at least three times per day. Wildrose Campground opened on January 30. Furnace Creek Campground, Texas Springs Campground, and Mesquite Springs Campground opened on January 31.

While some staff reopened the park, others spent over 1,500 person-hours documenting, cleaning, and repairing damage from the extended government shutdown.

“The shutdown couldn’t have happened at a busier time for Death Valley. Our visitation always skyrockets over Christmas and New Years,” said Superintendent Mike Reynolds. “For weeks we had no authority under the Anti-Deficiency Act to spend money to provide visitor services. People tried to do the right thing by leaving trash next to full dumpsters, but wind and animals dispersed it. The park’s resources, visitors, and wildlife all paid the price.”



Park rangers have noticed three coyotes and two bobcats approaching humans for food recently. “We think their behavior was changed by the food scraps they got from trash,” said Reynolds.

One coyote regularly faked an injury to beg for food. The canine often stopped traffic in the middle of a blind curve, which created a dangerous situation. Park rangers killed the coyote because of the traffic hazard and concerns that its lack of fear of humans would soon turn to aggression. “We tried hazing it,” said Reynolds, “But it learned to identify NPS vehicles. I hated authorizing this, but was the only way to keep the public safe.”

In addition to trash, human waste also caused problems.

After the federal government’s funding lapsed on December 22, the National Park Service was only authorized to protect human safety and property. There was no funding to clean, stock, or pump vault toilets. The park left vault toilets accessible until they became too unsanitary to use. At that point, necessity caused even well-intentioned people to damage the park. According to Reynolds, park staff cleaned up at least 1,665 clumps of toilet paper and 429 piles of human feces. “And that’s an incomplete figure,” he added. “We only counted in a few areas. We estimate there was at least half a ton of human waste deposited outside restrooms.”