This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Utah's state parks may still be experiencing a windfall from the closure of the national parks one year ago.
When the federal government closed down Oct. 1, 2013, shuttering everything from Zion National Park to passport processing centers, tour bus operators got creative and sent crowds of stranded tourists to places like Kodachrome Basin and Dead Horse Point state parks.
It was an opportunity for the little brother and sister parks to show off while the national parks, monuments and recreation areas in Utah were barricaded.
"When they closed the gates it certainly gave us a big boost," said Utah State Parks director Fred Hayes. "We are still seeing leftovers. We had a bump in visitation and it is up again. It was a chance for state parks to shine."
State parks closest to the closed national park service units saw a dramatic increase in visitation, namely in the number of tours buses pulling into the parking lot.
Dead Horse Point State Park near Arches and Canyonlands national parks set visitor records last October.
"They were biggest days we ever had," Dead Horse Point State Park manager Megan Blackwelder said as the one-year anniversary of the shutdown approached.
Blackwelder said before the government shutdown, Dead Horse Point would have maybe five buses stop on a busy day. One weekend last month, eight buses stopped.
"We have had a lot more bus tours since then," she said. "Bus touring companies came here during the shutdown and they have added us to their itineraries."
Actual visitation numbers comparing 2013 to 2014 are not a good indication because Utah State Parks started using a new calculation method in July, Blackwelder said.
Utah State Parks workers were prepared for the national parks to shut down last year, said State Tourism Director Vicki Varela. That preparation resulted in an ability to serve tourists until the governor and Legislature could figure out a way to get the parks open despite the sequestration.
"We showed the rest of the country how seriously we take the business of play in Utah," Varela said. "We rallied to make sure we took care of our tourists.
"We may not have any measurable means of showing an increase in visitation since the shutdown," she added, "but it is my sense that our state parks are becoming a bigger and bigger part of Utah's whole tourism portfolio."
Other states, Varela said, called Utah tourism officials seeking advice on how to get the attention diverted to state parks.
"We have spectacular state parks," she said, "parks that in other states would be national parks."
U.S Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell quoted from the Joni Mitchell song "Big Yellow Taxi" while addressing the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 31, 2013, while talking about at least one benefit from the shutdown.
"If there's a silver lining to all of this, and there's almost always some sort of a silver lining, it's that the shutdown shined a spotlight on just how much Americans love and value their public lands and the people who serve them," Jewell said before quoting the song. " 'Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you got 'til it's gone?' The shutdown clarified, for all of us, what's at stake. It reminded us that our parks, our wildlife refuges and our public lands are uniquely American."
Jewell told the media that the closure cost local communities around the barricaded parks at least $76 million a day in lost revenue.
The 16-day shutdown resulted in the loss of $414 million in revenue and 7.88 million fewer visitors that month across the nation, according to a report released by the National Park Service in March.
But in Utah, lawmakers and the governor rallied to reopen the state's national parks a week later.
Raising $999,432 to move the barricades and pay rangers, the Utah Legislature staved off significant losses to communities around around Arches, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef and Zion national parks. Cedar Breaks, Natural Bridges and Rainbow Bridge national monuments, as well as Glen Canyon National Recreation Area also opened.
The NPS report showed that the investment paid off with a $10 return for every $1 spent to reopen the parks. By opening the parks, Utah generated $9.95 million in visitor-related spending, according to the report.
"Utahns were reminded of what an incredible asset the national parks are," Varela said. "They experienced the way local communities were impacted by the shutdown and reminded of what a huge part of the regional economy the national parks generate."
When the report came out last spring, Gov. Gary Herbert declared state leaders had made the right decision.
"Utahns understand very clearly how important our national parks are to our state economy, particularly in rural Utah," he said. "The report released by the Department of the Interior shows what we have understood all along: We made the right decision to reopen our parks during the federal government shutdown."
Utah's congressional delegation was involved in two efforts to recover the money through the Shutdown Windfall Reimbursement Act and the National Park Access Act, but both sit idle.
Utah Senator Mike Lee is a co-sponsor of the National Park Access Act, despite being instrumental in the plan that led to the shutdown in the first place.
Twitter: @BrettPrettyman