UTAH Parks will open Saturday

[tanya]

Thursday, October 10, 2013 2:55 PM

News Flash!!

All of [U]Utah

[tanya]

I hope all the money the parks take in goes to the state!

[Bo_Beck]

Thursday, October 10, 2013 2:55 PM

News Flash!!

All of Utah’s National Parks and Monuments will be open beginning Saturday, October 12!!
The State of Utah has reached an agreement with Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell to staff the parks with National Park Employees, paid for by Utah State Funds.

Enjoy YOUR National Parks & Monuments!!


Ken Gotzen-Berg
Director
Kane County Office of Tourism
435-644-5033
78 South 100 East, Kanab, UT 84741
kgotzenberg@VisitSouthernUtah.com
www.VisitSouthernUtah.com

I was unable to verify this with any news source? How did you hear the great news?

[hank moon]

I was unable to verify this with any news source? How did you hear the great news?

this source is hopeful, but not definitive on the re-opening:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/world/5...rbert.html.csp

[accadacca]

Gov. Gary Herbert said Utah

[denaliguide]

arizona made the same offer days ago to pay for the reopening of the grand canyon. bet that doesn't happen. the administration isn't to fond of arizona.

[tanya]

It's from Ken. He is the Director of the Kane County Travel Council. It's trustworthy. The department has been calling all Kane County business' to let them know.

[tanya]

Email I just got from someone on the Kanab City Council:

Let me just add that this agreement has been reached verbally with Governor Gary Herbert and the Department of the interior. They have their attorneys working on the legal agreement with many I's to dot and T's to cross before we have a solid agreement signed. It is projected that these matters will be dealt with in the next 24 hours. Many details to work out and ramp up issues, some discussion about phases of opening. Stay tuned for more details and be a bit cautious about what you announce and promise until we have solid information. The great news is that the efforts from the local collation of counties has made a big difference. Also, thanks to our Governor for stepping up to support us in this effort.

Dirk Clayson(435) 616-1234

[accadacca]

SALT LAKE CITY — Late Thursday evening, Gov. Gary Herbert announced his office has reached a deal with the U.S. Department of the Interior to reopen Utah's five national parks.

According to the agreement, which Herbert signed Thursday, the five parks will open as early as Friday.

Utah will pay the National Park Service $1.67 million to re-open the national sights for up to 10 days. Should the federal government shutdown end before 10 days is up, the state will receive a refund of any unused money.

All funds provided by the state of Utah may be refunded with the approval of the U.S. Congress.

More information will be posted as it becomes available.

Source: http://www.ksl.com/?sid=27184250&nid...cid=featured-1

[Bo_Beck]

Great to see!

[accadacca]

[tanya]

Announcements have been made official about the National Parks opening tomorrow including Lake Powell. We are so excited about the support from Utah State in helping and funding this. Our collation of Southern Utah counties efforts to reopen the parks with county resources has pressed this issue forward. There were many liabilities and risks of opening the parks without Park employees or facilities. Our counties were trying to move forward with this and gain State support. This resulted in the better option of having the State fund these operations with Park employees. We are grateful for this assistance. We have spoken to Park management and they are moving forward to re-establish the services. I would encourage you all to reach out to your contacts within the parks and offer your assistance and thanks to them for their efforts to open back up quickly.

Best Regards,

Dirk Clayson
435-616-1234
Kanab, Utah

[deagol]

so, did the parks open as planned? I have not been able to find any news on how it went.

Thanks

[accadacca]

Yep, they opened up.

[deagol]

Thanks for the update. I saw this morning on the NPS website that Canyonlands is opening only for a week (presumably someone will see how things are going and decide to keep it open for another week ??)

Hard to make plans with it up in the air.

[deagol]

does anyone know if the State of Utah plans to keep the parks open longer than the initial period stated on the website www.nps.gov ?

http://www.nps.gov/shutdown/index.html


The list dates for each park (example:

• Canyonlands National Park (Utah, open October 11-20)

This implies that the park will shut back down after October 20th, the way I read it. Does anyone know what Utah will do at that point ??

Thanks.

[tanya]

This is crazy the Gov has not got their act together yet.

[accadacca]

Bump