Make our newscast part of your daily listening routine. Subscribe on Spotify (or wherever you listen to podcasts).
Over a week into the government shutdown, Taylor Phillips said bathrooms in Grand Teton National Park have been clean, trash has been picked up and visitors have been largely responsible.
He owns Ecotours, a guiding company that leads daily trips year-round in the park.
“It’s kind of business as usual, which is a breath of fresh air,” Phillips said.
Federal lawmakers remain in a stalemate as the government shutdown extends into its second week. Votes on Oct. 10 showed the shutdown would continue into the week of Oct. 13.
National Parks across the country remain open despite the concerns of advocates and former employees calling for parks to shut down.
Local media outlets are reporting that 100 of the park’s 130 employees have been furloughed. About two-thirds of all National Park Service employees are furloughed. At the Bridger-Teton, numbers are unclear. The parent agency published plans to furlough 40% of staff. Neither agency has responded to repeated requests for information.
Several sources, who worried about retribution for speaking on the record, said longer-term planning and maintenance of the park may go undone.
As for Phillips’ bottom line, he’s beginning to be less worried. Pre-shutdown, tourists had been waffling alongside lawmakers, canceling trips. He sent a letter to Wyoming’s congressional delegation sharing the impact the uncertainty was causing to his business.
Now, he said, “phones are ringing. People are booking trips.”
Long-term, federal worker employment is uncertain.
On Oct. 10, the Trump administration announced it had started to follow through on threats to fire “substantial” federal workers in another “reduction in force,” according to NPR. No details are known yet about how many workers are impacted.
While changes might not be noticeable to tourists yet, Phillips has friends who work for the park, the forest and the Bureau of Land Management. He said that since President Donald Trump took office and started layoffs, the job insecurity some federal workers have felt has been “crushing.”
“Incredible people have either gotten fired or have left because of the uncertainty,” he said.
Phillips commends the limited staff working “double-time” to keep the park clean and safe. He worries about the future of federal employees given the continued threats of federal firings. That’s in addition to federal firings, hiring freezes and resignation offers that have chipped away at staff size since January.
