Park visitors, businesses most affected by government shutdown

Source: The Arizona Daily Sun, FlagstaffOct.文件倉 01--Pete Wisniewski put in for his permit to raft the Grand Canyon in 1995, which was the last time the park was closed as part of a government shutdown. The Idaho man has been planning the trip for years and arrived in Flagstaff on Monday along with 15 other friends and family members ready to raft the Colorado River."I'm upset because I've been waiting since 1995. I'm flying into Arizona to give money to your state," he said. "This is a trip of a lifetime. I'm never going to be able to do this again."Wisniewski says he'd like to sue the government for the $16,000 he spent on equipping the private voyage with a Flagstaff river outfitter. Citing Edward Abbey and the Monkey Wrench Gang, he also says he's mad enough to launch his trip regardless of any park closures. The entire party had set aside 21 days from work and life to raft the river, he said, and have the return dates set for their departure."We're floating the river, so they better have handcuffs," Wisniewski said. "This is going to break my heart. We've got kids on this trip."MONUMENTS SHUTTEREDDespite those protests, the closure of Grand Canyon will start at 6 a.m. today when Park Service rangers will take their positions at the entrances and make preparations to turn visitors away.Similarly, at the Flagstaff Area National Monuments, all visitors will be closed out. At Wupatki, Sunset Crater and Walnut Canyon National Monuments, about 60 employees will be furloughed."We'll be shuttering all three Flagstaff Area Monuments if we're given word from the director," said Kayci Cook Collins, newly appointed director of the three Park Service properties. "Most of our people will be furloughed, even me."Visitors will be prevented from entering Walnut Canyon entirely, but at Sunset Crater and Wupatki monuments the roads will be open and signs posted instructing visitors to avoid the trails and ruins. Law enforcement staff will still be on duty.Area national forests and other public lands will also take steps to close down campgrounds and visitors' centers.QUINTUPLE BYPASS CELEBRATIONFrom Flagstaff's John Stofko, the reaction to park closure was much more subdued than other soon-to-be-turned-away visitors. Having just passed his 60th birthday, the retired school teacher for the deaf and blind had applied for a permit six months ago to complete his 60th trip into the Canyon.A major stroke couldn't stop him from hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon twice earlier this year -- it took a congressional failure to pass a budget to do that.Stofko planned this trip as the first anniversary celebration of surviving a quintuple heart bypass surgery. With the park closed and no congressional resolution in sight, he's unlikely to make it happen this year.But his wife, Tonya, says it hasn't really bothered him at this point. "I don't even think he's thinking about it," she said. "Over the years there have been plenty of times he's missed."WEDDING AT SOUTH RIM MOVEDThe closures were much more bothersome to a New Jersey couple who had planned to get married at the Grand Canyon this week.Melissa Dunstan of Tangled Lilac Photography in Flagstaff had to help move the wedding -- which had long been permitted for Shoshone Point on the South Rim -- to the Merry-Go-Round Rock in Sedona. The couple simply didn't want to risk the possibility that the Grand Canyon would be closed on their wedding day."We feel so bad for the wedding party," Dunstan said. "You only get one wedding day in your life and if you want to get married at the Grand Canyon and that day you can't -- it's huge."RAFTING COMPANIES LOSE OUTDunstan said that the impact to her business was light because they were able to relocate, but for Flagstaff river running companies, that was certainly not the case.The season ended for motorized boat travel through the Grand Canyon on Sept. 15, which means that most of the major commercial trips have already finished out their year.But paddle-only trips are still allowed and smaller local companies like Arizona Raft Adventures and Canyon Explorations rely on this last month of trips for a sizeable portion of their income. Other local river rafting companies run similarly."We're not a huge company," said Cam Staveley, who runs Canyon Explorations with his wife, Laurie. "The profit margin in a business like this isn't very high so losing the last few trips of the year is significant."In the event of a shutdown, no new passengers will be allowed on the river, which means that those river runners who had intended to hike down to Phantom Ranch and join a river trip will not be able to do so.That leaves river guides to stow away the empty boats and continue on their way, while local business owners have no choice but to pay their guides for bringing in empty boats.A manager with OARS, a whitewater rafting company with a warehouse in Flagstaff that does wooden boat trips down the Canyon, also said his company would be affected if the shutdown lasted more than a day or two.Likewise, Beth Roeser, operations manager for Professional River Outfitters, which provided equipment to Wisniewski's trip, says that she called the offices of Congressmembers Ann Kirkpatrick and Paul Gosar last week to warn them about the impact to her company."We're a small business operating in Grand Canyon National Park and this will have a huge impact," she said she told staff at the offices.PARK EMPLOYEES CAN STAYThe South Rim of Canyon is home to about 1,500 residents, who will stay throughout the government shutdown. Another 500 employees live in Tusayan.Employees of Grand Canyon National Park and other federal agencies have been told to show up to work as scheduled today. If the federal government sh存倉ts down, they'll have four hours to secure files and property, and leave a voicemail saying they'll be out of the office indefinitely.Law enforcement, security and health officials will stay on the job to carry out the shutdown over four days.Trails, campgrounds and hotels will be cleared, but park officials won't be scouring the entire 1.2 million-acre park looking for people. Those already inside the National Park system will be given 48 hours to find other accommodations, including those staying in the hotels and campgrounds.Visitors already hiking or camping in the backcountry or taking rafting trips on the Colorado River will be able to complete their trips. Helicopter tours also will continue.In the event of a shutdown, the national park expects to lose about $450,000 a day through entrance fees, backcountry permits, boat rentals and other sales, he said.The national park's grocery stores, schools, churches and other vital services will remain open for employees living in the park. Bus service will be maintained for the first week and then re-evaluated, officials said.Highway 64, which is operated in conjunction with the state, will remain open to allow free travel from Tusayan and Cameron, but the overlooks and destinations along the rim will be off limits to visitors. No commercial operators will be allowed into the park."If somebody is in a closed area, they can be cited. We'll work with that on a case by case basis," said Maureen Oltrogge, spokesperson for Grand Canyon National Park.NO TRAIN RIDESThe Grand Canyon Railway also will be required to stop taking guests into the Canyon, as will Pink Jeep Tours. The company offers trips out of Sedona, Scottsdale, Flagstaff and Tusayan."It's definitely a major impact for us," said Mike Hermen, marketing director for Pink Jeep Tours. "We do a significant amount of tours through the Grand Canyon everyday and not having that area open would be a significant impact on our business."Hermen says that while the company's other locations can offer tours to locations other than the Grand Canyon to mitigate the impact, their Tusayan office only goes to the South Rim."October is one of our busier months," Herman said. "Fall is a very good season for us"He said the company didn't expect any impact to its operations on Forest Service lands down in Sedona, where they run customized Jeeps through the Coconino National Forest's Red Rock District.CAMPGROUNDS' GATES CLOSEDOfficials with the U.S. Forest Service say that they haven't finalized the details of a shutdown plan. The Forest Service would close gates at designated campgrounds across the Coconino, but would leave the forest open for visitors. Area campground hosts said that they hadn't been contacted by the Forest Service yet about what closures would mean to them.Forest Service officials said that concessionaries operating on public lands would be shut down, but that wouldn't affect the Arizona Snowbowl, which runs under a special use permit. The ski resort will continue running the Scenic Skyride this weekend as the aspen leaves continue to turn on the San Francisco Peaks.USGS EMPLOYEES TO BE SENT HOMEOther local offices of federal agencies also faced uncertainty about what the closure would mean to them directly.Robert Hart, scientist-in-charge for all U.S. Geological Survey operations in Flagstaff said that what is certain is that about 300 employees from his agency would be sent home across Arizona."It's all really uncertain right now we're just waiting to see what happens," Hart said.There are only a few employees who would be exempted from the furloughs. That includes those USGS workers currently rafting the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon as part of teams of researchers. Those science workers will complete their trips, return to Flagstaff to appropriately store their gear and data and then be sent home, if a government shutdown lasted that long.One staff member locally had been deemed as an exception throughout the length of the shutdown. The federal government shutdown requires that someone remain on staff to take care of any animals in federal agency care. The USGS employee will need several hours a day to feed the endangered Humpback Chub used in experimental tanks and other non-endangered fish used as analogs.COUNTY, NAU MONITORING SITUATIONCoconino County officials also weren't clear on exactly what impact the shutdown would have on local government, which pull funding for a number of programs from the federal government."The extent on how the county would be impacted is largely dependent on the length of a federal shutdown," said Coconino County spokesperson Nathan Gonzalez. "Many of our social programs are funded partially or largely through a variety of federal grants, so it is possible some could be impacted by a long-term government shutdown."He said that in the worst-case scenario, some of their programs would have to seek reimbursement from the federal government.Northern Arizona University will be monitoring a possible government shutdown."The short-term impact will be minimal. However, if the shutdown drags on, it could impact federal funding agencies for research and grants, federal financial aid, and (new) veterans benefits," said Tom Bauer, director of the NAU Office of Public Affairs. "NAU is monitoring the status of discussions closely and will be evaluating impacts on an ongoing basis. At this time, no NAU offices will be closed."___Eric Betz can be reached at 556-2250 or ebetz@azdailysun.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Arizona Daily Sun (Flagstaff, Ariz.) 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