{"id":56627,"date":"2013-10-22T16:16:46","date_gmt":"2013-10-22T22:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-slightly-leaner-mesa-verde-reopens\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T15:55:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T15:55:20","slug":"a-slightly-leaner-mesa-verde-reopens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-slightly-leaner-mesa-verde-reopens\/","title":{"rendered":"A slightly leaner Mesa Verde reopens"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kayla
Kayla Altland helps tourists Sue and Matt Fair map their plans for visiting Mesa Verde National Park. The park reopened Thursday, Oct. 17, after the federal government shutdown.<\/span>Sam Green\/Cortez Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A seven-hour drive from Utah to Cortez, Kathleen and Brett Bailey along with their three children \u2013 6, 8 and 13 years of age \u2013 were unsure if they would be allowed to visit Mesa Verde National Park when they left their home. While en route, the government shutdown ended, and the Bailey\u2019s got to visit the park after all. They did so with joy on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been planning this trip for a long time,\u201d said Kathleen Bailey. \u201cOnce the shutdown started, we thought about just driving to California to go to Lego Land.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials from the National Parks Conservation Association also were thrilled the government shutdown ended, but long-term funding solutions remain for the country\u2019s 401 national parks and monuments.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately for our national parks and the communities, businesses and visitors they serve, the budget agreement is a short-term solution that does nothing to address the long-term needs of the parks,\u201d said NPCA acting president Theresa Pierno.<\/p>\n

Serving as an independent, nonpartisan voice for the National Park Service, the NPCA was founded in 1919 to address major threats facing the country\u2019s national park system. A major blow to the economy that cost a half-a-billion dollars, the recent government shutdown was just one more in a long line of events that have crippled the National Park Service in recent years, Pierno said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe parks and the American people need and deserve a genuine, long-term budget solution that keeps our parks completely open and ends the slow-motion shutdown that is occurring under the sequester,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

With a $6 million annual budget, one Mesa Verde National Park official said the sequestration cuts forced the park to re-examine spending priorities while trying to minimize impacts to visitors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sequestration forced us to take a long, hard look at our budget,\u201d said Mesa Verde deputy superintendent Bill Nelligan.<\/p>\n

Some of the readjustments to spending at Mesa Verde include not filling vacant positions, altering tourist schedules, downsizing the park\u2019s vehicle fleet and combining software licenses, for example.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to work smarter and maintain flexibility, and still maintain our core services and provide a meaningful experience for visitors,\u201d Nelligan said. \u201cWe do the best we can with what we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Baileys were appreciative of Mesa Verde\u2019s efforts, despite lingering questions of future budgets.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love our national parks,\u201d said Brett Bailey. \u201cWe visit them a lot. It\u2019s very important to us that our national parks be fully funded.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to a recent poll, nine out of 10 Americans \u2013 Republicans, Democrats, and Independents-want and expect the federal government to keep national parks open, protected and funded. Bailey agreed, saying it was sad that Congress has failed to adequately fund the country\u2019s national treasures and make them a centerpiece to the federal budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese parks are something we should be proud of,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

NPCA officials estimate the budget to operate America\u2019s national parks, in today\u2019s dollars, is 13 percent less than three years ago, a loss of $315 million. Over the summer, budgets for the national parks were slashed by more than $180 million in the sequestration.<\/p>\n

Across the nation, those cuts have forced delayed openings of both parks and park roads; closed visitor centers, picnic areas and campgrounds; decreased the number of rangers to protect and maintain parks; and limited the number of educational programs.<\/p>\n

Annually, the country\u2019s national parks attract about 300 million visitors and support more than $30 billion in private-sector spending, generating $10 in economic activity for every federal dollar invested, said an economic analysis done for the National Parks Conservation Association.<\/p>\n

tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Altland helps tourists Sue and Matt Fair map their plans for visiting Mesa Verde National Park. The park reopened Thursday, Oct. 17, after the federal government shutdown.Sam Green\/Cortez Journal A seven-hour drive from Utah to Cortez, Kathleen and Brett Bailey along with their three children \u2013 6, 8 and 13 years of age \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1724,21,13,173],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-56627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-budgets-and-budgeting","tag-cortez","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-mesa-verde-national-park"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56627"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62629,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56627\/revisions\/62629"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56627"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=56627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}