This sign now greets entrants to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, by Tim Bryan

Hawaii National Park, Hawai‘i – Because of the shutdown of the federal government caused by the lapse in appropriations, the National Park Service (NPS) has closed all 401 national parks, including Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. All visitor facilities including Kīlauea Visitor Center, park hotels, campgrounds and roads – except for Highway 11, a thru way – are closed. The park will remain closed until the government reopens.

Superintendent Cindy Orlando said that park visitors in all overnight campgrounds and lodges will be given until 6 p.m. on Thursday, October 3 to make travel arrangements and leave the park. In addition, all park programs and special events have been canceled, including tonight’s After Dark in the Park presentation on earthquakes.

Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park hosts 4,500 visitors on average each day; nationally, more than 715,000 visitors a day frequent the National Park System. The park will lose an estimated $12,800 of entrance fees each day of the shutdown, plus other fees. Nationwide the NPS stands to lose approximately $450,000 per day in lost revenue from fees collected at entry stations and fees paid for in-park activities such as cave tours, boat rides and camping. Gateway communities across the country see about $76 million per day in total sales from visitor spending that is lost during a government shutdown. Visitors spend about $96,990,000 a year in the communities around Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, or approximately $265,726 a day.

In Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, 127 employees are on furlough because of the shutdown and another 90 concessions employees are similarly affected. Thirteen park employees remain on duty, providing security and emergency services.

Nationwide the shutdown has also furloughed more than 20,000 National Park Service employees; approximately 3,000 employees remain on duty to ensure essential health, safety, and security functions at parks and facilities. About 12,000 park concessions employees are also affected.

Because it will not be maintained, the National Park Service website will be down for the duration of the shutdown. NPS.gov has more than 750,000 pages and 91 million unique visitors each year.

For updates on the shutdown, please visit www.doi.gov/shutdown.