Locals count their losses as Washington’s national parks reopen
Oct 17, 2013, 11:58 AM | Updated: 12:25 pm
A small handful of visitors were the first to return to Paradise at Mount Rainier National Park after the park reopened Thursday following the end of the government shutdown. (Mount Rainier National Park webcam)
(Mount Rainier National Park webcam)
Now that the government shutdown is over, Washington’s national parks are open and returning to normal. And their reopening couldn’t come soon enough for businesses hit hard by the shutdown.
“It hurt,” says Sheiska Suver, owner of Suver’s General Store in Ashford outside Mount Rainier National Park.
Over one million cars a year pass by the store on their way to the park, Suver says. And with the 16-day shutdown, she lost hundreds of customers every day during the popular fall season.
“That comes out to a couple thousand dollars a day in sales, so for us being a small business, that’s a big hit.”
Park gates and some visitor centers reopened Thursday morning at Mount Rainier, and the National Inn at Longmire should reopen for dining and lodging by Friday evening, according to spokesperson Patti Wold.
“We’re happy to welcome the public back in,” Wold says.
Rangers and other workers are also happy to be back on the job. At Olympic National Park, some employees showed up early to get the visitor’s center opened Thursday morning.
“They were so excited, they wanted to open early,” says Barb Maynes, Olympic National Park spokesperson.
While it took workers a few hours to get all the barricades and removed, Maynes says things were back to normal by mid-morning, although some workers who left the area have yet to return. And she says traffic was brisk as soon as the park reopened.
“It’s great to see people back in using and enjoying the park,” she says.
Maynes and other workers will be paid for the time off during the shutdown. But back in Ashford, Suver is left to count her losses.
“People are just disgusted that this is a solution. The people that work for the Congress get paid. The furloughed workers will get paid. But I’m not going to recover income lost because they closed down one of the main features of our area.”
Now that Mount Rainier National Park has reopened, she’s urging people to come back up and stop at her store and the other local businesses hit hard by the shutdown.
“It’s a lot of money. It’s not really something we can afford.”
