Why and how do you close national parks?

The US Congress, in particular the Republican faction of the House, has decided that their bruised ego is more important than pretty much anything else. So they decided that shutting down the entire US federal government (with a very few exceptions) was a good idea.

One of the things that did shut down, was national parks. And that’s where my understanding really stops.

Why shutdown a park. It has been around long before humans, it doesn’t really need running! Forcing people out and blocking the area off is just silly.

First off, blocking the park actually costs money. Simply sending federal employees home would have been much cheaper.

Second, what the heck are they “shutting down”?

• the gift store? - who cares!
• the trees? - how? why?
• the rocks? - how? why?
• the rivers? - how? why?
• the animals? - how? why?

I don’t think any other country on the planet would even contemplate “shutting down a national park”. Maybe shuttering the ranger station and the gift shop for a couple of days, but this?

It all started out as a couple of House Republicans showing of that they aren’t the brightest people in the world. It ended up demonstrating, that maybe those representatives are still a lot smarter than the park service.