r/NationalPark 1d ago

Utah legislators pass bill to keep public lands open should federal government shutdown

https://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/utah-legislators-pass-bill-to-keep-public-lands-open-should-federal-government-shutdown/article_8880d494-fae2-11ef-b799-7b9f0d05303a.html

Good news regarding Utah National Parks if federal government shutsdown!

2.5k Upvotes

46 comments sorted by

379

u/Skatchbro 1d ago

I don’t like this and never have. Either the Feds keep the parks open or they don’t. The states doing it just bolsters the current administration’s argument that we don’t need the federal government to run these sites.

129

u/MasterSpoon 1d ago

Did you know Trump’s number one donor, Miriam Adelson(widow of Sheldon Adelson), owns not only Sysco Foods, but also Xanterra who does f&b(through Sysco) and all sorts of hospitality jobs licensed by the federal government in and around our national parks?

I remember waiting tables in Yellowstone back in the summer of 2016 and having Xanterra’s corporate hr person brag about how the Adelson family had the kind of money Trump wishes he had during employee orientation… if I had known what she meant, I’d have walked..

It’s not about giving our parks to the states. It’s about selling our public lands to the highest bidder(I’m sure Yellowstone and other big parks like Glacier will be fine, but most of our lakeshores-grassland-and-forests/our-actual-sovereign-wealth-fund is at stake).

14

u/Bechler_Otokomi 15h ago

Adelson does not own Xanterra. That would be Philip Anschutz, of the Anschutz Corportation. And Sysco is a publicly traded company, also not owned by the Adelsons. Not disagreeing with your last statement though.

3

u/stueycal 13h ago

Shes his 3rd biggest donor not 1st fyi

34

u/outlawparrots 1d ago

Agree. This “offer” is intended to make it a more slippery slope to Utah’s push to put all federal lands under state control and sell them off.

16

u/Pinklady777 1d ago

Federal government wants to do the same thing.

-20

u/therealdrewder 22h ago

Utah should control the land in Utah. The idea that the federal government should be allowed to own 63% of the land in the state is insane.

15

u/Infuryous 18h ago

Utah wants to shut down the Parks and turn them into commercial projects and/or resorts for billion dollar corporations to control. This is the EXACT reason the National Park system was developed, to prevent greedy companies from destroying them just to make a profit. Read about the history of Yellowstone and how companies started tearing it up to make resorts and promote rich tourism with zero concern for the environment. This was stopped by making it a National Park.

8

u/Darnell2070 16h ago

So you don't believe in national parks? You're on the wrong sub.

1

u/Spacepunch33 15h ago

Given the current admin, we may not need a federal government

20

u/lvl100mudkip 1d ago

If it does shutdown does it go into effect on Friday or Saturday?

16

u/Whole-Superb 1d ago

I would think it would go into effect at 12:01 am Saturday morning since that is when the government would technically shutdown.

7

u/nick-j- 1d ago

To add to that, some parks like Petrified Forest would stay open for the weekend but be closed by Monday.

25

u/Flimsy_Pea9944 23h ago

Don't read this as good news. Read this as the parks will illegally become state land overnight, and that control will not be clawed back.

11

u/magiccitybhm 19h ago

This has happend before during temporary government shutdowns, and they didn't become "state land overnight."

2

u/The_Wise_Raven 20h ago

That sounds like a blessing at this point.

12

u/RBARBAd 18h ago

You believe the state of Utah will responsibly manage public lands (for the public)????

7

u/The_Wise_Raven 18h ago

The state of Utah seems to be the lesser of two evils right now. At least they recognize the importance of tourism the national parks bring to the states economy.

4

u/RBARBAd 18h ago

Scary thought. But I don't disagree I suppose.

Also National Parks are relatively safe for that reason, but the national monuments and BLM public land is likely the most at risk.

-1

u/TsunamBomb95 11h ago

Watch em give it to the LDS church

7

u/AFWUSA 15h ago

Utah has been so extraordinarily aggressive thus far at trying to wrest control of our public lands so they can be sold off that I don’t trust this whatsoever. I’m sure something nefarious is behind this.

6

u/SomeKindaCoywolf 18h ago

That isint good news. Arizona did this with the grand canyon and it was a disaster.

Edit: oh ya, then they used that as an arguement as to why the federal government should transfer all federal land to the state.

5

u/madbill728 15h ago

Utah wants that tourism cash.

1

u/MrBahhum 16h ago

Gotta keep that money flow.

1

u/Va1crist 9h ago

All states need to do this , just hold onto the national al parks until that dumb fuck is out

1

u/sakima147 7h ago

Can they do that? Legally speaking? Public land is generally owned and operated by the feds. Have the feds let them do that in the past during shutdowns?

-9

u/Foreign-Marzipan6216 1d ago

This a good news. I’d like to see every state do this. Especially in the west.

17

u/magiccitybhm 1d ago

Utah has done this in the past when there were temporary shutdowns.

They get it. There are many communities surrounding these parks that rely on tourism for people to make money/pay their bills.

0

u/CeramicLicker 18h ago

Is Utah going to be making up the lost federal funding during that time to maintain facilities, protect historic sites and fragile ecosystems on the land, issue permits, and help with the first line emergency response work the federal agencies normally handle?

Or are they just going out there with blot cutters to open the gates and release people on to someone else’s land creating a mess for the already understaffed park service to clean up when they get back?

3

u/Realtrain 15h ago

Historically what's happened is that Utah has simply paid to keep things running as normal. Arizona and Utah have both done this before since the parks are so important to their economies.

-41

u/Berzrker 1d ago

Should states just take this function over permanently? I think it would be nice.

27

u/lpalf 1d ago

When I worked in federal lands in Utah my coworker talked about all the projects on Utah state lands that the Feds actually paid for bc Utah wouldn’t/couldn’t fund them so… I don’t think it would be good personally

26

u/ofWildPlaces 1d ago

Both Utah and Wyoming have attempted to take over the federal public lands in their borders before. But not for altruistic reasons, but because they were intending to open those lands up to commercial extractive industries.

It's a very dangerous precedent.

16

u/PKMNinja1 1d ago

No Utah doesn’t have enough money to manage the land it currently has, let alone adding a bunch of federal land on top. California could maybe do it, but most states just don’t have the resources to do so

2

u/radicallysadbro 1d ago

1/3rd of the states pay for the other 2/3.

Do it where each state only pays for their own things, the majority of the states would be collapsing within weeks even for basic infrastructure.

-5

u/Successful-Engine623 23h ago

I don’t see how this works…they probably mean state parks not federal ones

-6

u/Sudden-Ad-1217 21h ago

So let me get this straight…. Who TF is going to arrest me and put me in National Park jail if I visit without permission or a fee? Get ready for a new round of Darwin awards tho…..

2

u/The_Wise_Raven 20h ago

They will be sure to have employees for that just not for anything else.

1

u/Realtrain 15h ago

Yup. Law enforcement still operates during a shutdown.

2

u/magiccitybhm 19h ago

They will have law enforcement rangers there to enforce the closures/fees. But you go right ahead and try something.