Gov. Spencer Cox announced this week that — once again — Utah will pony up money to keep its national parks and other federal recreation areas open if the government shuts down at midnight Friday.
“In the event that we do have to shut down, sadly, we’ve had these contingencies in place for a long, long time, since government shutdowns have become routine or near-routine,” Cox said Thursday after a deal to keep the federal government operating fell apart.
“We’ll just go back and dust off what we did last time and we’ll be ready to move forward,” he said.
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Gov. Spencer Cox speaks with reporters during a news conference in Salt Lake City, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024.
If a budget deal is not reached, Utah’s parks will remain fully operational this weekend. Starting Monday and going forward, they will then be accessible with limited services, like trash pickup, bathroom maintenance and shuttle services, where applicable.
In addition to the five national parks, the state would also provide funds to keep Natural Bridges National Monument, Cedar Breaks National Monument, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Dinosaur National Monument, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Bear River Bird Refuge and Hovenweep National Monument operating.
State parks would not be impacted by a federal shutdown.
“Our goal is to do right by visitors, many of whom have planned trips of a lifetime from all over the world to experience our national parks, and to do right by rural communities that depend heavily on the visitor economy,” said Natalie Randall, managing director of the Utah Office of Tourism.
The state has set aside $5 million to keep the popular “Mighty 5″ parks and other federal tourist destinations operating. The funds were allocated after the 2018 government shutdown, when state officials scrambled to figure out how to keep the parks open.
Once a budget was passed, the federal government repaid about half of the money the state spent, but Utah was still out $1.6 million.
According to the National Park Service, 15.7 million visitors traveled to Utah’s national parks in 2023 and generated $3 billion for the state’s economy.
In the run-up to what appeared to be a likely government shutdown in September 2023, the state’s tourism office announced it would provide the funds to sustain basic operations, as well. That shutdown was averted when Congress struck a last-minute deal.
Cox said his administration will look at other areas where the state might have to step in.
“We did this last time,” he said. “We have a list of things that we’ll go through in the event that a shutdown does happen.”
