U.S. Department of the Interior
Office of the Secretary

Dave Barna (202) 208-6843
Lisa Guide (202) 208-6416


For Immediate Release: January 3, 1996

The citizens of the United States are being denied access to their natural, cultural, and historic heritage. Over 383,000 visitors are being turned away from National Park units each day. On a typical January day, 51,000 visitors tour the Statue of Liberty in New York, and 21,000 tourists enter Yosemite National Park in California.

Due to the partial closing of the Federal government, the National Park System is closed, with two exceptions. Under agreements with Arizona and New Mexico, part of the Grand Canyon National Park (South Rim area) and Carlsbad Caverns National Park are open. The remaining 367 units of the national park system are closed.

The economic impacts of the shutdown are building. Local communities are losing nearly $ 14.2 million each day in lost tourism. The U.S. Treasury is losing $104,000 each day in entrance fee revenues. National Park Service Cooperating Associations, who sell books and educational materials, are losing $ 165,000 each day.

• o The impacts on local communities are staggering.

  Mariposa County, California

  Mariposa County is located just outside of closed Yosemite National Park. The County Board of Supervisors has asked the Governor to declare the county an economic disaster area. County officials estimate that 25% of the workforce has been affected. The County is losing $8,000 to $10,000 each day in tax revenues. Taxes from the tourism industry provide over 50% of the County's annual revenue. The shutdown will have a direct impact on local police and fire protection, education, and other services.

  Nearly 1,600 non-park employees have lost their jobs. Grocery store sales are down 60-80%, hotels are 95% empty, and other tourism sales are down 85%. During the shutdown the County has lost $ 5 million in tourism trade. Within the park, Yosemite concessionaires are loosing $ 200,000 to $ 300,000 each day of the closure.

  Garfield County, Utah

  Best Western Ruby's Inn, located near Bryce Canyon National Park, estimates that the federal government shutdown has cost it's business $200,000 through December alone. That figure is now reaching a quarter of a million. The Inn is receiving about 70 room cancellations per day. Related store and restaurant sales have dropped to almost 25 percent of what they were last year for the same time period. Inn management believes there may be irreparable damage to its future fall and spring business because of this year's closure of Bryce Canyon.

  Garfield County is an economically depressed area, and county residents depend on winter employment the Inn, which is the county's largest employer. The county is strapped financially and will be hit hard with decreased sales at the Inn and other businesses, because of the park's closure.

  Harpers Ferry, West Virginia

  Thirty shops and motels are adjacent to the boundaries of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. These shops have been heavily impacted by a sharp decline in customer flow due to the park closure. Merchants have laid off their employees and are losing thousands of dollars due to the closure.

• o The shutdown is having a critical effect on NPS concessioners. The following daily NPS concession loss figures show the following:

  Daily Gross Receipts:			-$983,000
  Daily Loss of Tax Revenue to
  Local Communities		-$ 49,100
  Daily Loss in Fees to Treasury
  or NPS Improvements	-$ 51,600
  

  Specific examples include:

  The popular Folk Arts Center at the Blue Ridge Parkway has been closed during the busy holiday selling season. The center includes several private vendors who sell mountain crafts and art work. It was closed four days before Christmas, losing about $6,000 a day in sales. The Peaks of Otter Lodge, a concession operation in Virginia, had to lay off 75 employees just before the holidays. During the last shutdown in November, the concessioner who runs the Peaks of Otter and Mammoth Cave Hotel in Kentucky told reporters his business lost about $87,000.

  About $77,000 in tickets were not sold for the tram ride to the top of the Arch at the Jefferson NEM in St. Louis, Missouri.

  People come from all over the country to work the winter season in Yellowstone National Park. Many don't have enough money to get home if they don't work. The concessioner, TW Services, is expecting to lose more than $1 million in sales, but is housing and feeding the staff to encourage them to stay. However, morale is low; there isn't anything for them to do in the interior of the park. Many are talking about resigning; the concessioner will have difficulty in finding qualified staff when the park re-opens.

  Everglades was entering its busy visitor season at the time of the shutdown and was forced to evict hundreds of campers from the already-full campgrounds. The park normally would have about 50,000 visitors during the last two weeks in December. The marina, lodge, and boat rental concession at Flamingo laid off 165 employees. Businesses at Everglades City, the park's western gateway, are feeling a severe economic pinch from the shutdown.

• o Many Congressionally authorized cooperating associations, which perform public services to supplement NPS activities, are experiencing financial difficulties because of the shutdown:

  The White House Historical Association averaged $6,845 per day in gross receipts from its sales facilities before the shutdown. With the visitor center closed and White House tours canceled, total estimated loss of revenue through December 28 was $61,605.

  The Southwest Parks and Monuments Association in the Flagstaff, Arizona, area estimates that if the shutdown continues their loss in sales is estimated to exceed $200,000.

  The Jefferson National Expansion Historical Association in St. Louis has lost about $51,000 in sales at its Museum Shop. About $19,000 in tickets were not sold for its theaters. The Association and the concessioner that operates the tram to the top of the arch put 93 employees in nonpay status. A number of these individuals will, by necessity, take other jobs and their experience will be lost.

• o Many American families, who had purchased non-refundable airline tickets and made arrangements for accommodations more than two years ago, have suffered anger, disappointment and financial loss due to the shutdown and closure of the parks. NPS employees at Yellowstone National Park, for instance, have received hundreds of telephone calls from people who were unclear as to whether they should come or make other arrangements. Many visitors have been very upset about the park's closure.

• o Employee morale has plummeted as a result of the continued shutdown and public outrage over park closures.