National Parks are reopening. Is it wise to visit?

By Miranda Willson

Thursday, May 21, 2020 | 2 a.m.

It’s no secret that U.S. Interior Department Secretary David Bernhardt and the Trump administration think it’s time for the national parks to reopen. On April 27, Bernhardt said he planned to reopen parks “as rapidly as possible” under the administration’s direction.

But the position is not without controversy, with advocacy groups like the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) concerned about whether the decision could put visitors, staff and surrounding communities at risk.

Here’s what Las Vegans considering making the trek to one of the region’s national parks should keep in mind.

Shelter in place, recreate close by

Although some businesses have begun reopening in Nevada, the state is still under a stay-at-home order through May 30. That means, to slow the spread of COVID-19, people are strongly encouraged to avoid unnecessary travel or contact with people outside their household.

While it’s healthy to get outside, the U.S. Forest Service, which has kept its recreation areas open, has had trouble managing crowds during the pandemic, said Erica Hupp, spokeswoman for the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. Mount Charleston has seen “record-breaking” visitation since the shelter-in-place order was instituted, creating challenges for maintenance and staff safety, and prompting the Forest Service to encourage people to recreate closer to home.

“It just doesn’t make it easy when we don’t have our facilities open for people, especially when the weather is turning so nice,” Hupp said.

At nearby Red Rock Canyon, the scenic loop drive, campgrounds and some other heavily traversed areas remained closed as of Wednesday, while on the Nevada side of Lake Mead National Recreation Area, the visitor center, campgrounds and several coves and other spots were still closed.

Time will tell whether national parks will see a similar, higher-than-usual volume of visitors. Some parks say they will continuously monitor crowds as they reopen and could close again if people fail to practice social distancing.

Know before you go

For the most part, national parks are setting their own reopening schedules, so those planning to visit one should do their research ahead of time. For example, while Zion National Park reopened May 13, Joshua Tree reopened this week with restrictions, and Death Valley had not announced a reopening date as of Wednesday.

When Death Valley does reopen, park staffers will install signage promoting social distancing. They also expect record-breaking summer temperatures to deter most visitors, according to spokeswoman Abby Wines.

“In a normal summer, the biggest crowds that develop are when air-conditioned buses unload their 50 passengers at the same location,” Wines wrote in an email. “The park has suspended all bus permits, and they won’t be reconsidered until several stages into our reopening plan.”

Since Bryce Canyon National Park reopened most of its area May 6—one of the first in the region to do so—visitation has been about average, park spokesman Peter Densmore said. The park opened its visitor center May 13, with a cap on the number of people allowed inside to protect staff, Densmore said.

Summer is Bryce Canyon’s most popular season, so crowds could soon pick up, particularly during Memorial Day weekend, Densmore said. “We don’t yet know what the rest of the month will look like in terms of visitation, and we’re preparing for the possibility of the park being busy over that holiday weekend especially.”

If crowds become unmanageable or create unsafe conditions, Bryce Canyon could close again, Densmore said. “Any success we’ve had so far and any success going forward has been completely dependent upon the cooperation of visitors,” he said.

Zion National Park, which reopened May 13, similarly predicts visitation to increase in the coming weeks, park spokesman Jeff Axel said. Right now, the visitor center and some popular hiking spots—including the Narrows, Canyon Overlook Trail, Weeping Rock and some of Angels Landing—are still closed. The scenic drive shuttle also isn’t in service, so visitors can only access that area of the canyon by car or foot; parking is severely limited, helping cap the crowds.

“Once the parking is full, we have a gate we bring down to close access,” Axel said.

The Grand Canyon has reopened some park areas Monday through Friday. Visitors must enter between 6 and 10 a.m., and, like Zion, the park closes after sunset.

With commercial services shut down, those who visit should plan to be self-sufficient, park spokeswoman Lily Daniels said.

“We’re kind of separating the residential areas and keeping all of our customer service contact stations closed,” she said.

Staff, surrounding communities a concern

Park reopenings have not been without controversy.

For the NPCA, one issue is staff safety. Due to the pandemic, popular parks like Zion don’t have the seasonal staff upon which they normally rely during peak months, said Kristen Brengel, NPCA’s vice president of government affairs. The parks service limited seasonal hirings, because staffers typically live in communal, dormitory-style homes, potential incubators of COVID-19, Brengel said.

While that’s good for employee safety, it means maintenance, wildlife management and resource protection could be compromised, she said. “We’re worried about the fact that the parks might be less protected this summer, because there aren’t enough staff to manage the use,” Brengel said.

One entity wary of reopening the Grand Canyon is the nearby Navajo Nation. The sovereign nation of more than 356,000 people has been hit hard by COVID-19. As of May 13, nearly 4,000 people had contracted the virus, and 114 had died, according to the Navajo Times.

Since some visitors travel through the Navajo Nation to get to the Grand Canyon, the nation is opposed to the area reopening, President Jonathan Nez said.

“We just don’t want a second round, an increase of coronavirus, here on the Navajo Nation,” Nez said. “I think people need to recognize that we’re all interconnected nowadays. What happens on the Navajo Nation affects us, and vice versa.”

Another obvious concern is whether parks themselves could spread the coronavirus. At Zion, which has been reckoning with overcrowding issues for years, social distancing could prove difficult, Brengel said. Now might be the time to implement a long-discussed reservation system, whereby visitors would need to reserve a spot during a designated time in order to enter the park, she said.

“At parks like Zion that could easily become overwhelmed with visitors, we need to figure out ways to help people physically distance from each other,” she said.

While long-term crowd management plans are not Zion’s focus now, Axel said anyone visiting the park should consider that it could fill up before they arrive. There are plenty of other recreational areas to check out in the region, he said.

“There’s beautiful scenery all over the place and lots of things to see and do outside the park, so folks need to have alternate plans for sure,” Axel said.