The Obama administration announced that it will allow states to use their own money to reopen some national parks that had been closed in the federal government shutdown.
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said they will consider offers from individual states to reopen some parks but they will not relinquish control of the park itself to the states.
The governors of Utah, South Dakota, Arizona and Colorado have made requests to the administration to allow the states to fund park operations. The governors say the closure of the parks has had a unusually large impact on the communities surrounding the parks.
“The current federally mandated closure is decimating the bottom line of bed-and-breakfast business owners and operators in Torrey (Utah), outfitters at Bryce Canyon City and restaurant owners in Moab,” Utah Governor Gary Herbert wrote. He estimated the shutdown has cost Utah $100 million so far.
The National Park Service itself has stated they are losing close to $450,000 a day in revenue from the parks.