JOSHUA TREE – Uncertainty over the government shutdown has been especially unsettling in the Joshua Tree National Park, which is entering its busiest time of year as the desert weather cools off.

The park was hit especially hard during the last government shutdown: Over 35 days in 2018 and 2019, vandals defaced the park’s rocks with graffiti, went off-roading in ecologically sensitive areas and even chopped down beloved Joshua trees.

Park advocates referred to those events as “atrocities” and say the damage could take hundreds of years to reverse. It happened because the park was left open with minimal staffing, they say, which raises an important question: What will be done during this shutdown to prevent the same things from happening again?

Park officials did not respond to an email from SFGATE posing that question, nor did representatives from Recreation.gov. But in speaking with recent visitors, local nonprofit leaders and business owners in the region, a picture of how the Park Service and its partners plan to safeguard Joshua Tree’s resources during the shutdown has come into view.

Story Date: October 8, 2025