(NEWSER) – The National Park Service is taking an extraordinary—and, it turns out, controversial—step to keep its most popular sites open and safe for visitors during a prolonged government shutdown, the Washington Post reports. The Interior Department's acting secretary, David Bernhardt, has agreed to let park managers use entrance fees to keep facilities up and running. "As the lapse in appropriations continues, it has become clear that highly visited parks with limited staff have urgent needs that cannot be addressed solely through the generosity of our partners," says National Park Service Deputy Director P. Daniel Smith. "We are taking this extraordinary step to ensure that parks are protected, and that visitors can continue to access parks with limited basic services." Read More
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