"Former Interior Department employees and advocacy groups say the Trump administration isn’t doing enough to protect federal employees as it allows national parks to remain open—and with free entrance to the public—during the coronavirus pandemic.
Many national parks, monuments, wildlife refuges and other federal lands remained open Friday, though with reduced services, closed visitor centers, and waived entrance fees. Some rangers and other federal employees remain on the job there.
Yosemite, Joshua Tree, and other national parks in California, where residents are under a stay-at-home order, remained open.
Others still open included Arches and Canyonlands national parks in Utah. However, a local health department in southeast Utah, where the parks are located, banned anyone who doesn’t reside in the area from staying in a hotel or camping on public lands."
Bobby Magill reports for Bloomberg Environment March 20, 2020.
