Colorado National Monument Could Close if Government Shuts Down

If our elected leaders in Washington D.C. can’t find a way to keep the government open by mid-night tonight the Colorado National Monument could be closing.

Colorado has 13 national parks including the Nation Monument. The 34 employees would be put on furlough and the Monument would be shutdown. That means anyone camping would be given 48 hours to pack and leave. The Visitor’s Center would close cutting off access to biking, hiking and driving through the Monument.

That would stop all fees coming in from visitors and stop the maintenance work planed for this fall. The asphalt overlay planned comes from entrance fees and with no fees no asphalt work will be done.

That doesn’t include the money lost to our community. Do you think those camping would stay in the area? No, they will just pack up and head home. That means the money spent on food, gas entertainment and anything else would just go away in a blink of an eye.

The other big problem is the disaster relief. The floods destroying over 200 miles of roads and damaging some 50 bridges hit Colorado hard last month. There is a cap of $100 million of disaster relief but that can be raised. The problem is that Congress has to it and it would have to be signed by the President.

The House and Senate have put forth bills giving Colorado more funding for the flood damaged roads but they are two different versions. So, not only does Congress need to keep the Government open but also they need to pass the measure to fund Colorado’s flood damaged roads. To add to the complications winter is on its way, not much roadwork can be done in the wintertime.

With the clock ticking it doesn’t look like this do nothing Congress will be able to do anything to help or fine state in its time of need.