October 1, 2013
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK CLOSES ON 123rd ANNIVERSARY DUE TO GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
Yosemite National Park, California (JFK+50) Yosemite National Park is closed today on the 123rd anniversary of its establishment due to the government shutdown which was initiated at midnight.
The park, which is closed down with all other parks operated by the National Park Service, opened on October 1, 1890.
Yesterday President Barack Obama said...
"Tourists will find every one of America's national parks and monuments, from Yosemite to the Smithsonian to the Statue of Liberty, immediately closed."
Sylvia Burwell, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said...
"Agencies should now execute plans for an orderly shutdown."
Democrats in Congress wanted a "clean funding bill" which would not include defunding Obamacare and when the Republicans called for a compromise, Senator Harry Reid said...
"We will not go to conference with a gun to our head."
So, as a result of the deadlock, the government of the United States has shut down for the 1st time in 17 years.
President Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant on June 30, 1864 and later in the century conservationist John Muir led a movement to establish a larger national park on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
President Theodore Roosevelt camped with Muir near Glacier Point in May 1903 and 3 years later TR signed a bill giving the federal government control of the Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove.
Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir
on Glacier Point
Yosemite National Park
John F. Kennedy 's visit to Yosemite on August 17 and 18, 1962 marked the 1st time a President of the United States had visited the national park since TR.
First Lady Laura Bush made a recreational visit to Yosemite in March 2002.
Yosemite, seven miles long and a mile across, has been described as "one of the world's most dramatic geological spectacles," and John Muir described it as a "window opening into heaven reflecting the Creator."
The park comprises 760,000 acres and is 95% wilderness. It boasts of entertaining 3.7 million visitors annually.
In an interview broadcast on CNN this morning, a ranger of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park said that the shutdown would necessitate contacting all those who have made reservations to stay within the boundaries of the park within the coming weeks informing them of the park's closure.
The majority of the rangers will be placed on "furlough" for the duration of the shutdown.
SOURCES
"Shutdown begins as Congress remains deadlocked," NBC Politics, www.nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/
"Yosemite: As government shuts down, Google marks anniversary of national park you suddenly cannot see," by Michael Cavna, www.washingtonpost.com/
JFK+50 NOTE
The John F. Kennedy Library in Boston is closed today, along with all other presidential libraries, and for the duration of the government shutdown.
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK CLOSES ON 123rd ANNIVERSARY DUE TO GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
Yosemite National Park, California (JFK+50) Yosemite National Park is closed today on the 123rd anniversary of its establishment due to the government shutdown which was initiated at midnight.
The park, which is closed down with all other parks operated by the National Park Service, opened on October 1, 1890.
Yesterday President Barack Obama said...
"Tourists will find every one of America's national parks and monuments, from Yosemite to the Smithsonian to the Statue of Liberty, immediately closed."
Sylvia Burwell, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said...
"Agencies should now execute plans for an orderly shutdown."
Democrats in Congress wanted a "clean funding bill" which would not include defunding Obamacare and when the Republicans called for a compromise, Senator Harry Reid said...
"We will not go to conference with a gun to our head."
So, as a result of the deadlock, the government of the United States has shut down for the 1st time in 17 years.
President Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant on June 30, 1864 and later in the century conservationist John Muir led a movement to establish a larger national park on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
President Theodore Roosevelt camped with Muir near Glacier Point in May 1903 and 3 years later TR signed a bill giving the federal government control of the Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove.
Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir
on Glacier Point
Yosemite National Park
John F. Kennedy 's visit to Yosemite on August 17 and 18, 1962 marked the 1st time a President of the United States had visited the national park since TR.
First Lady Laura Bush made a recreational visit to Yosemite in March 2002.
Yosemite, seven miles long and a mile across, has been described as "one of the world's most dramatic geological spectacles," and John Muir described it as a "window opening into heaven reflecting the Creator."
The park comprises 760,000 acres and is 95% wilderness. It boasts of entertaining 3.7 million visitors annually.
In an interview broadcast on CNN this morning, a ranger of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park said that the shutdown would necessitate contacting all those who have made reservations to stay within the boundaries of the park within the coming weeks informing them of the park's closure.
The majority of the rangers will be placed on "furlough" for the duration of the shutdown.
SOURCES
"Shutdown begins as Congress remains deadlocked," NBC Politics, www.nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/
"Yosemite: As government shuts down, Google marks anniversary of national park you suddenly cannot see," by Michael Cavna, www.washingtonpost.com/
JFK+50 NOTE
The John F. Kennedy Library in Boston is closed today, along with all other presidential libraries, and for the duration of the government shutdown.
