Arizona national forest worker worried about shutdown affect on parks

PHOENIX – When your workplace is a national forest and a monthlong government shutdown has left it vulnerable, if you are federal geologist Judd Sampson of Arizona, you worry on two fronts.

Sampson, whose workplace is Tonto National Forest, is worried about his family and all the others affected by the shutdown, but he’s also worried about the national parks.

“People use the lands, make trash, they use the restrooms — there’s no one there to clean it up or to tell how to do it safely,” Sampson said Tuesday on KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News.

“[There’s no one] to tell them they can’t go in restricted areas for their own safety,” he said.

The disabled veteran is not among the 3,300 or so park workers who have remained on the job during the partial shutdown, which has gone on for 32 days.

Due to the federal government shutdown, Tonto National Monument is closed for resource protection and safety.

During the shutdown, we will not monitor or update social media. For more information visit: https://t.co/q1xsp1InHy.

— Tonto NPS (@tonto_nps) December 22, 2018

Under the park service’s shutdown plan, authorities have to close any area where garbage or other problems become threats to health and safety or to wildlife. Some parks remained open but access to certain areas was limited.

The Grand Canyon remained open, with the state government paying for trash pickup and restroom service.

“We take a lot of pride [in the forest] and we work really hard to make sure that the fifth-largest urban area in the United States has a good place to go recreate safely,” Sampson said of Tonto.

The forest stretches across four counties, Maricopa, Gila, Pinal and Yavapai.

Visitors have left piles of garbage at parks across the country and some have damaged Joshua trees in the California desert park that bears the same name.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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