ST. MARKS, FL — On Wednesday, Friends of St. Marks Wildlife Refuge made a post on Facebook announcing closures at the national park due to the Government Shutdown.
The following locations will be closed until further notice:
- Visitor Center
- Education Building
- Nature Store
- Lighthouse
Below are the following locations that will remain open:
- The gates to St. Marks Refuge open from 6:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m.
- The bathrooms located between Headquarters and Picnic Ponds
- Portolets
They say October's Second Sunday Talk will move to a new location, and details will be released once finalized.
St. Mark's official Facebook page posted the following message,
The U.S. Department of the Interior, on its website, lists contingencies in the event of a government shutdown.
Under the National Park Service contingency plan for a potential lapse in appropriations, certain activities that will remain includes:
• Law enforcement and emergency response;
• Border and coastal protection and surveillance
• Fire suppression for active fires, emergency stabilization, or staffing commensurate with
Preparedness Level conditions;
• Protection of Federal lands, buildings, waterways, equipment, and other property within the
National Park System, including research property;
• Activities essential to ensure continued public health and safety, including safe use of food and
drugs and safe use of hazardous materials, drinking water, and sewage treatment operation;
• Activities that ensure production of power and maintenance of the power distribution system;
• Activities related to United States Park Police annuity benefits transfer (necessarily implied by
law, 54 U.S.C. 103101(d));
• Activities related to facilitation of First Amendment activities, including permitting and
monitoring (necessarily implied by law, U.S. Const, Amend I); and
• Activities necessary to oversee or support excepted or exempted activities, including budget,
finance, procurement, communications, human resources, and information technology services.
Currently, employees who are neither excepted nor exempted will be furloughed.
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