UPDATE 3 | Around The Parks: Coping With Coronavirus, March 24 – National Parks Traveler

Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks closed to all visitors Tuesday due to the coronavirus pandemic/NPS file, Jacob W. Frank

Editor's note: This updates with road closures at Mount Rainier National Park.

Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks announced Tuesday afternoon that they would close to all visitors. The announcement came hours after Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials, unable to discourage visitors from coming into the park, announced that they would close most of the park to the public in a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus. That was followed by news that the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway would close, and Mount Rainier National Park officials said they were closing all roads into their park.

The National Park Service listened to the concerns from our local partners and, based on current health guidance, temporarily closed the parks, said Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly and Grand Teton Acting Superintendent Gopaul Noojibail in a joint statement. We are committed to continued close coordination with our state and local partners as we progress through this closure period and are prepared when the timing is right to reopen as quickly and safely as possible.

Sholly had said Monday night that the park staff had received "a substantial number requests to temporarily close, from state and local partners, including the governors of Montana and Wyoming, health officials from all surrounding counties, and local government leadership."

Under the parks' closures, there will be no visitor access permitted to either park. State highways and/or roads that transcend park/state boundaries and facilities that support life safety and commerce will remain open. Both parks will cooperate on the implementation of the closures.

Across the country at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, officials said their decision to close most of the park stemmed from daily crowds averaging roughly 30,000 people that resulted "in congested conditions at popular locations, such as Laurel Falls, Newfound Gap, and Cades Cove. Visitors from across the country have flocked to the area due to spring break, wildflowers, and warm weather conditions."

Just after 9 a.m. local time Tuesday a park release said that "all park areas, except the Foothills Parkway and the Spur, will close at noon on Tuesday, March 24, through Monday, April 6."

"The park will continue to assess changing conditions in our region and work with local communities to extend or terminate closures, as appropriate to ensure the health and safety of our visitors, employees, volunteers, partners, and local residents," the statement said.

Late Tuesday morning officials at Blue Ridge Parkway announced that "the southernmost 14 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway, from Milepost 455 to 469, will close effective immediately in a continuing effort to support federal, state, and local efforts to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and in coordination with travel restrictions in place from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Great Smoky Mountains Park."

At Mount Rainier,all park roads to public vehicle access closed at 1:30 p.m. local time. "This closure will prohibit all vehicles, including cars, buses, motorcycles and nonmotorized vehicles such as bicycles from entering the park," a park release said. "The parks main gate near Ashford will also be closed."

At Shenandoah National Park, staff announced that all huts and cabins along the roughly 100 miles of Appalachian Trail in the park were closed.

Sandra "Sandi" Marra, president and CEO of theAppalachian Trail Conservancy, made a personal plea that hikers stay off the A.T.

"In a time when social distancing is necessary to minimize the spread and contraction of a dangerous virus, many have escaped to nature seeking isolation and unpopulated spaces. On the A.T., however, what theyve found are trailhead parking lots exceeding their maximum capacities, shelters full of overnight hikers, day hikers using picnic tables and privies, and group trips continuing as planned," she said. "Popular spots along the Trail like Blood Mountain in Georgia, the McAfee Knob area in Virginia, and Annapolis Rocks in Maryland have seen day use reach record-breaking levels. Cars line the highways leading to popular day-hiking spots on the Trail. Hiking the A.T. has become, in other words, the opposite of social distancing.

"These same crowds accessing the A.T. may not know how a simple half-day hike can spread COVID-19. While hiking, they may have eaten lunch at a picnic table, taken a break in a shelter, used a privy, or shared a map or food with someone unknowingly infected with COVID-19 and carried this highly contagious virus back to their communities at the end of the day," she went on. "They may not have realized that ATC staff and trail volunteers have been recalled from the A.T. and cannot maintain the footpath, trailheads, shelters and privies that may be heavily (or permanently) impacted by increased visitor use. And, they may not be aware of the rural communities adjacent to the trail that may not have the healthcare resources to help a sick hiker or volunteer or manage a COVID-19 outbreak should a hiker transport the virus in from the trail.

"There is an unfortunate truth about this virus: unless everyone is safe, no one is safe. So, take a walk around the block. Spend time with your loved ones. And, please, stay home."

Also on Tuesday, officials at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park in Virginia and the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River in Pennsylvania announced only essential personnel were being kept on the job.

"These are extraordinary times. The unprecedented steps our society and community are taking in the name of public health will inevitably entail some unwanted physical impacts on the park itself. Grass will not be mowed. The National Cemetery may soon be in a state that at any other time would be unacceptable," said John Hennessy at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania. "If nature intervenes with storms or floods, we may have to close trails, scenic roads, or significant areas of the park. While unpleasant, all of these things are temporarythey can be remedied once the crisis passes. In the meantime, they constitute some of the burden we will all have to shoulder as we work our way, together, through this emergency."

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park in Georgia announced Tuesday that all parking lots, buildings, facilities, and trails in the park were closed. Virgin Islands National Park on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, announced expansion of previously announced closures:

*The Cruz Bay Visitor Center is closed. Information and services will not be available.

* The park dock and bulkhead at the Cruz Bay Visitor Center is closed to commercial activity.

* No more than two individuals may occupy a dinghy when travelling to or from the NPS dock.

* All restrooms and porta johns in the park are closed.

* Guided hikes and other on-site public or educational programs are cancelled.

* Food service and watersports rentals at Trunk Bay will not be available.

* The park will not issue special visitor use or business permits.

* Trash will not be collected. When visiting the park bring garbage bags so you can take your trash with you. Pack it in, pack it out!

* Trash receptacles will not be available for boater trash. Boaters must make other arrangements for trash disposal. Do not leave trash on shore.

* The pavilions at Trunk, Maho, and Hawksnest Bays are closed, as are changing rooms and showers.

* The park will not operate or provide restrooms, maintain roads or walkways.

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UPDATE 3 | Around The Parks: Coping With Coronavirus, March 24 - National Parks Traveler