Will National Forest Service Offroad Trails Close with Government Shutdown?

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Nickel

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San Diego, CA, USA
First Name
Steve
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Jones
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28940

I'm planning to go camping at a couple of different yellow post sites late next week and into the weekend (Southern California Area). Does anyone know if the National Forest Service will close these trails (i.e. lock gates) if there is a government shutdown?
 
FYI I called forest service. They said they will get 4 hours notice and likely the best they can do is update the website stating closure of department, but they will leave sites open but with no services (i.e. if a site has facilities the trash cans will over-flow, etc.) They will not have time to close trails.
 
Nickel said:
I'm planning to go camping at a couple of different yellow post sites late next week and into the weekend (Southern California Area). Does anyone know if the National Forest Service will close these trails (i.e. lock gates) if there is a government shutdown?
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Nope. They left them wide open last time. Sure hope there are no fires out here in the West.
 
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government shutdown? millions of acers with no rangers...no law...no order?
lets see who tells me i cant water the cactus with my gray water now! :smilingimp:


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Side note - In the process I learned that the trail I am going to had some damage from storms over the summer. But utility company has facailities near the top so they maintain the trail to a degree. Nice to know. Ranger said right after the storms trail was rough but is in much better shape after maintenance.

And it looks like shutdown is temp averted. My brother appreciates that. He is a government contractor for the military but not essential. He was furloughed 10 years or so ago on the last shutdown.
 
Shutdown plans are updated every couple of years. USFS, NPS, and BLM have their own policies. Each administration has an opportunity to take a different posture related to closure.

It is great that congress has passed a continuing resolution.

See you on the trail.
 
grubworm said:
government shutdown? millions of acers with no rangers...no law...no order?
lets see who tells me i cant water the cactus with my gray water now! :smilingimp:


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Yea. That is the sort of behavior that makes us all look like responsibal adults that don't need oversight.
 
Sparksalot said:
Gates? Many forest roads don’t have any.
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Ha! You haven't spent any time then exploring the George Washington/ Jefferson/ Monongahela Nat Forests in the mid-Atlantic area, then. Not a criticism of you, so please don't take it that way. Seems like over half of the roads are gated closed except for a couple of months in the fall for certain hunting seasons. The frustrations of east coast dispersed camping...
 
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Like a fence stops me anyways.

I'll be finding all kinds of new stealth camping spots (on foot) if our parks shutdown.

Nobody really uses our free hike-in sites hardly, anyways.
 
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