Utah’s national parks remain open amid government shutdown, but services limited

Zion National Park. Photo: Jamie Hagan // UnSplash

UTAH — Americans woke up to an anticipated government shutdown on Wednesday, and while the National Park Service has promised that gates and roads will generally remain open, skeleton staffing and limited services are raising warning flags for conservation groups.

All five of Utah’s national parks and federal lands will remain accessible, according to the Utah Office of Tourism, though services will be limited. This may include closed visitor centers and halted interpretive programs and ranger-led services.
Utah’s national parks contributed $3.1 billion to the state economy in 2024. And state leaders are eager to limit the impacts of the shutdown on the rural communities that rely on the parks for revenue.

“Our priority has been and continues to be preserving our parks, maintaining the visitor experience, and ensuring Utah communities and businesses that rely on national parks visitation are supported,” Natalie Randall, the managing director of the Utah Office of Tourism and Film, said in a release.

The Zion Canyon Visitors Bureau said the park’s shuttle system is expected to remain fully operational, adding that the park service will continue cleaning bathrooms and providing trash services to keep the park clean. “Please note, this is the extent of the information we have at this time,” they continued, “and we do not have further details regarding the duration or full operational status of the park beyond this initial announcement.”

As of Wednesday, Arches National Park will continue to require entry reservations for the duration of the program, which runs through the end of October.

During the last government shutdown in 2019, parks across the nation were damaged and vandalized due to reduced staffing and services. At Arches, visitors left human waste outside of bathrooms and five trails were damaged in a permit-only area. Zion also required maintenance to damaged trails, roads and campgrounds.

Last Friday, a group of former park superintendents wrote a letter to the Trump administration, urging federal officials to close the parks in the case of a government shutdown.

“Past shutdowns in which gates remained open with limited staff have hurt our parks,” reads the letter. “If you don’t act now, history is not just doomed to repeat itself, the damage could in fact be much worse.”

Officials urge visitors to plan ahead, follow park rules, and remain mindful of the limited staffing, as the full impacts of the shutdown on Utah’s parks and local economies is yet to be seen.

For more information and updates on how the shutdown will affect Utah national parks, check Visit Utah.