The good news is, you can now get into Mesa Verde National Park for free. The bad news is, not much of the park is open.
The federal government shutdown, which took effect Oct. 1, means that visitation opportunities at national parks and national monuments are changing.
At Mesa Verde, visitors can drive the main park road, but the museum, visitor center, and loop roads are closed. The Canyons of the Ancients Visitor Center and Museum near Dolores is also closed.
No one from the Cortez or Mancos chambers of commerce, the Cortez Welcome Center, or Mesa Verde Country could be reached for comment on how this may affect tourism or how tourism has been this year.
Across the country, national parks are being kept open but with drastically reduced staff – a total of about 3,000 employees instead of the usual 15,000, according to several reports.
A number of nonprofit organizations have voiced concern about this plan.
The executive director of the Center for Western Priorities, Jennifer Rokala, said in a statement that during the last shutdown, in the winter of 2018 and 2019, places like California’s Joshua Tree National Park were vandalized “and the rest of America’s parks saw trash and even human waste pile up.”
In a blog post, the National Parks Conservation Association said that the shutdown in 2018-19 led to illegal off-roading, vandalism, overflowing trash cans, and stolen artifacts because people still were still able to go into the parks but there wasn't the necessary staff to handle maintenance or oversee visitors.
