The Arizona town of Tusayan, on the southern rim of the Grand Canyon, has 558 residents and 1,000 hotel rooms. And by Friday, it had $ 325,000 to reopen temporarily shuttered Grand Canyon National Park.
“The reason we exist is the Grand Canyon National Park. This closure is devastating,” said Greg Bryan, Tusayan’s mayor and the owner of a Best Western hotel. The town is offering to fund a partial reopening of the park that would allow visitors to drive through on a main road and stop at overlooks.
AP
Tourists take a photo in front of a sign near the entrance to Grand Canyon National Park, on Oct. 4, near Tusayan, Ariz.
As the federal-government shutdown entered its fifth day Saturday, state and local governments were searching for ways to keep attractions open, especially in places where local economies largely depend on the parks. Some are willing to pay to keep the parks going during these final crucial weeks of prime tourist season, before winter sets in.
In Wisconsin, officials are keeping seven federally subsidized state-owned forest, wildlife and recreation areas open, even after receiving instructions from the federal Department of the Interior to close them. The state lands depend on federal funds for 18% of their budgets, or $ 701,000 total.
“I really don’t think it is a defiance, but fulfilling our obligations,” said Cathy Stepp, an official with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, which administers the state properties. “We are doing everything we can with social media, radio outlets and news to get the word out that we’re open. The calls are coming in like crazy—people are planning to come here with camping trips every year, weddings, reunions.”
Lawmakers in Maryland have worked out a small exception to the federal shutdown to allow several hundred family members to honor firefighters who died in the line of duty at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Emmitsburg, Md., this weekend.
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) worked with the memorial, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Fire Administration to open the site briefly for the annual memorial service.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, said the brief opening didn’t present an additional cost. “They’re just unlocking the gate and allowing families of fallen firefighters to pay their respects at the memorial,” the spokeswoman said.
But the federal government turned down Republican South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s offer to keep the Mount Rushmore National Memorial open with state workers. The National Park Service told state officials that it was required to use federal employees, not state employees, at the monument, and that opening Mount Rushmore would set a precedent to open the other federal parks.
“It makes sense for the federal government to shut things down because there isn’t funding available, but it doesn’t make sense to close something because they are trying to make a point,” said Tony Venhuizen, a spokesman for the governor. “Our offer still stands if there is a change of heart on the part of federal officials. We certainly would be pleased to talk to them if they seem interested.”
Federal officials have so far rebuffed offers from Arizona state and local officials to pay for reopening at least a portion of Grand Canyon National Park.
Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, famous for her run-ins with the Obama administration, at first this past week released a statement saying her state “cannot afford to bail out the federal government,” but then offered to use state funds to reopen the park.
“The governor believes that President Obama and both parties in Congress owe it to the American people to get their act together and work out a solution to fund the government. And, at the very least, President Obama should agree to reopen the National Parks,” said Ms. Brewer’s spokesman, Andrew Wilder.
He said the park’s superintendent told the governor’s office that the Grand Canyon “would not accept third-party dollars for park operations.”
On Friday night, Ms. Brewer, Arizona House Speaker Andy Tobin and Arizona Senate President Andy Biggs sent a letter to Mr. Obama asking that he immediately reopen the Grand Canyon, or least make it possible for state and private funding to reopen the park.
A spokesman for the National Park Service said its headquarters hadn’t received a “formal offer” to reopen the Grand Canyon, but ruled out the possibility.
“Beyond the legal constraints involved, it would not be appropriate or feasible to open some parks or some parts of parks while other parts of the National Park System remain closed to the public,” said National Parks Service spokesman Mike Litterst.
“We appreciate the generous offers of support and temporary assistance to reopen various individual parks around the country,” he said, adding that the service “shares in the frustration” of more than 700,000 people turned away from 401 parks every day.
Tusayan business owners kicked in $ 125,000 toward the Grand Canyon park’s reopening. The town council voted to contribute $ 200,000.
Mr. Bryan, Tusayan’s mayor, said that if the state contributes enough to bring that amount to $ 500,000, that could keep part of the park open for a few weeks, reopening the main route through the park and the lookout areas.
In Arizona, the Grand Canyon State, the awe-inspiring attraction brings in millions of visitors every year and is an anchor of the state’s tourism industry, which last year accounted for $ 19 billion in spending and 7% of tax revenue, according to a state tourism report. The attraction creates 12,000 jobs, and tourists spend $ 1.2 million a day on businesses there, according to Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, a Democrat who represents the district that includes the canyon, as well as seven national forests and other national parks.
Ms. Kirkpatrick said Friday she is continuing to negotiate on behalf of her district to try to reopen the Grand Canyon and other parks.
In Wyoming, home to Yellowstone, the country’s first national park, officials talked to the National Park Service about finding an alternative source of funding to keep operations running, said Renny MacKay, a spokesman for Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead, a Republican.
Earlier this year, locals helped pay for snowplowing at Yellowstone when the national park couldn’t afford it because of automatic federal budget cuts known as the sequester. This time around, though, “the likelihood of reaching agreement on that type of approach is not likely,” said Mr. MacKay.
“The closure of national parks and monuments in Wyoming creates a significant economic hardship on many small businesses in nearby communities,” he said.
—–Kris Maher and Ana Campoy contributed to this article.
Write to Tamara Audi at tammy.audi@wsj.com and Caroline Porter at caroline.porter@wsj.com
