With the federal government now shut down, Utah is stepping in to keep the Mighty 5 national parks — Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands and Arches — open.
The Utah Office of Tourism and Film said, in a statement, they are “engaged in proactive conversations with public and private partners at all levels, offering strategic support to ensure the parks remain open with necessary resources.”
According to spokesperson Anna Loughridge, how much it will cost to keep the parks open and where exactly the money will come from is still being ironed out.
“Right now, our primary focus is continuing to advocate for federal dollars to support park operations,” she said.
National parks are huge economic drivers in Utah. In 2024, they generated $3.1 billion in state economic impact. In the past, Utah has stepped in to fund national park operations during government funding impasses, with state dollars going toward those efforts in 2013 and 2018.
“Sometimes something that's overlooked is that [national park] visitors are staying at hotels, visitors are eating at our restaurants, visitors are shopping at our local stores for art, for jewelry. They are hiring a local guide,” said Loughridge. “So many Utahns, so many local Utah businesses rely on national park visitation.”
The current shutdown is the latest in a tricky year for Utah’s gateway communities. Even before the shutdown, the state’s national parks saw a nearly 10% decrease in summer visitation compared to 2024.
In a place like Moab, which offers easy access to Arches and Canyonlands, even the fear of a park closure is big news.
“We're having a hard enough time with things the way they are in the economy,” said Moab city councilor Jason Taylor. “You know, we don't need a government shutdown to detract from those people who have already committed to coming here.”
Taylor is also the operations manager for Western River Expeditions and the Moab Adventure Center, two tourism-reliant local businesses. For him, the shutdown just adds another layer of complication.
“Our phones are ringing with people going like, ‘Hey, should I cancel my vacation? Is the park going to be closed? If it's going to be closed, I don't want to come,’” he said. “We're all kind of in this waiting game of what's going to happen.”
Keeping the parks open and communities supported is the main driver behind why the state is stepping in. Taylor said that support has been a lifeline to many local businesses.
“I think if we didn't have that statement from the state and from Moab City and from Grand County, I absolutely think that we would have gotten people canceling their vacations, for sure,” he said.
The fall months are not downtime for park visitation, either. Loughridge said the tourism office expects an additional 1.1 million visitors to the state’s national parks in October, looking to take advantage of cooler temperatures and abundant outdoor recreation opportunities.
That all has Taylor “pretty stressed” about the coming weeks.
“A lot of people are traveling to Moab,” he said. “It's the perfect time of year to be here.”
For the tourism office, mitigating the unease felt by businesses, communities and visitors is a top priority.
“Many [visitors] are planning trips of a lifetime to be here,” Loughridge said. “They are saving up, they are coordinating with their family, they're making reservations over a year in advance to be here in Utah for a once-in-a-lifetime experience and they're wondering, can they still have that experience? And we are doing everything in our power to make sure they know that they can.”
Park services like bathrooms, shuttles, water, emergency services and law enforcement will remain operational and funded, the state has said. But some other services and staffing will be reduced.
There are alternatives, too. As Utah’s Department of Natural Resources noted on social media, state parks are not affected by the federal shutdown and remain fully open, operational and “ready for visitors.”
