People play in the snow at Paradise in Mount Rainier National Park in this 2016 file photo.
Amid the ongoing federal government shutdown, operations are continuing for Lewis County — but communities around Mount Rainier are taking a hit from the partial closure of the national park.
“At this point, we’re operating as usual,” said county commissioner Edna Fund. “It’s wait and see at this point.”
County employees have been instructed to tell the human resources and budget departments if they become aware of a pending loss of federal funding to Lewis County, whether from grants, reimbursement programs, partnerships or other government support the county depends on. So far, no one has been notified of any changes.
The county’s Public Works department did clear a boulder from Skate Creek Road — which would normally be a federal responsibility — and is hoping to be paid back for that once funding is restored.
“A big boulder ended up in the road,” Fund said. “We had to go ahead. We’re hoping we can get reimbursed.”
At a meeting of mayors and leaders from the county’s municipalities Friday, none of the officials in attendance said they’d felt any effects from the shutdown.
“It’s when they get back in motion that we’ll get worried,” said Chehalis Mayor Dennis Dawes.
While local government operations have been largely unaffected, the communities near Mount Rainier that thrive on the tourists who visit the park have noticed a substantial impact from the shutdown.
“Very decreased traffic and really not reaching our normal benchmarks for rentals or sales,” said Rebecca Brooks, operations manager with Whittaker Mountaineering, an outfitter in Ashford. “We’re having to dial back on our staff hours, and our store hours are narrowing with every additional day. … We’re just seeing people come less and less.”
According to Brooks, the store usually rents out the 80 snowshoes it has in stock by noon most weekends, but since the shutdown it’s tapered to a “handful” per day.
At present, the national park remains open at Longmire, but the road from Longmire to Paradise is closed, making the park’s top winter recreation area inaccessible.
“The upper Nisqually valley, Ashford and Elbe absolutely depend on tourism,” said Meilee Anderson, marketing consultant for Visit Rainier, the area tourism organization. “Yes, they are feeling it. The restaurants are not as packed. ... It's too early to tell how much this is going to cost from a lost revenue point of view.”
On Wednesday, King 5 reported that the national park may close Sunday if the federal government does not reopen, quoting Rainier Guest Services operations manager Melinda Simpson. Simpson could not immediately be reached for comment.
For now, the park remains open, at least in a limited capacity. Brooks said she found the trails that are still accessible to be overrun with people during a recent visit to Rainier, the consequence of limited visitor options. Recent reports have noted problems at other parks with overflowing trash and pit toilets, vandalism and reckless behavior. Rainier seems to have avoided that worst-case scenario, though smaller violations like litter, dogs on the trails and sledding in off-limits areas have been noted.
The one beneficiary of the shutdown may be the Mount Tahoma Trails Association, which operates a network of cross-country ski and snowshoe trails near Ashford. Brooks and Anderson said those trails have seen an influx of visitors since much of the snow-based activity on Rainier closed down. The Crystal Mountain Resort on the east side of the national park has also proved a popular alternative.
Brooks had mixed feelings about the timing of the shutdown. The fact that it’s happening during the winter season has limited the potential harm and safety hazards, with only certain areas of the park open and fewer visitors overall. But it did come over the holiday season, which is normally the busiest time for winter activity.
“The timing was awful, because during winter break, everyone’s out of school and they want to go play in the (Paradise) sled area,” she said. “But in the winter, the snow protects a lot of (the park). Because of the harsh environment, it’s keeping people from doing anything too crazy.”
