The multitudes of tourists who visit the Bay Area’s nation’s parks, monuments and seashore on Sunday are confronting a confusing reality of the government shutdown: Some sites are closed and some are open but unsupervised.
Several iconic parks are completely closed, including Muir Woods in Marin County, San Francisco’s Fort Point National Historic Site and other places primarily made up of buildings that can be locked.
Other parks are open, such as Pt. Reyes National Seashore, Marin’s Rodeo Beach and Yosemite and Pacifica’s rugged Mori Point — but only the roads, trails and scenic overlooks. Visitor centers and bathrooms are closed.
Educational programs and ranger-led events, such as “behind the scenes” tours on Alcatraz Island, have been suspended. Hornblower Yachts, which gives Alcatraz tours, is not selling tickets on Sunday. Weddings and permits for special activities are also rescinded at many national parks.
The parks will remain closed until Congress acts to fund the federal government.
The Trump administration decided to keep the national parks partially open, to reduce the impact of a shutdown. But the parks aren’t protected and supported by rangers.
About one-third of the nation’s 417 national park sites are completely closed, according to the century-old National Parks Conservation Association, an independent, nonpartisan organization.
What is accessible to the public differs from park to park. In Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian’s 17 museums and the National Zoo are open this weekend, using funds from previous appropriations. New York Harbor’s Statue of Liberty is closed. So is the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.
To add to the confusion, the National Park Service websites and social media are not being monitored and updated, so do not reflect current conditions.
More than 21,000 Park Service employees are being furloughed during park closures and thousands of contract employees and small business owners are affected, according to the association. An estimated 3,298 “essential staff” manage 80 million acres of national park lands.
Here is a Bay Area list of what is closed in the federal government’s Golden Gate National Recreation Area, beginning Sunday:
Marin County:
Muir Woods National Monument
Marin Headlands Visitor Center and Restrooms
Muir Beach Parking Lot and Restrooms
Rodeo Beach Restrooms
Point Bonita Lighthouse
Nike Missile Site
Battery Townsley
Upper Conzelman Road
Kirby Cove, Haypress, Hawk Campgrounds
Bicenntenial Campground
Stinson Beach
San Francisco:
Battery Chamberlin
Fort Point National Historic Site
Battery East Parking Lot
Navy Memorial Parking Lot (Lands End)
Merrie Way Parking Lot (Lands End)
China Beach
Fort Mason Headquarters Information Center
Fort Mason Great Meadow Restrooms
Ocean Beach Sloat Blvd Parking Lot and Restrooms
Rob Hill Campground
Fort Funston Parking Lot
San Mateo:
Mori Point Restrooms
For a complete list of GGNRA closures, visit https://www.nps.gov/goga/planyourvisit/temp-closures.htm
