Great Smokey Mountains National Park Among Other National Parks Facing Government Spending Cuts

Some of the nation's historical parks could be affected by government spending cuts, reported The Associated Press.

As a result, some parks like the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are expecting to close a total of five campgrounds and picnic areas, which would impact 54,000 visitors. 

"We're planning for this to happen and hoping that it doesn't," National Park Service spokesman Jeffrey Olson told the AP. Olson confirmed that the list represents what the government may considering removing from the budget.

Among the 398 parks targeted are Yosemite National Park in California, where the park authorities are afraid that cuts in maintenance and care will attract bears into camps.

According to the AP, the cuts are expected to continue through the next seven months, which is considered peak season for the national parks. 

In Yellowstone National Park, they received upwards of 3 million people between the months of May through September. They receive a more visits in the winter for sports compared to the summer, where there are more visitors in cars and RVs.

"This is a big, complex park, and we provide a lot of services that people don't realize," Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash said in an interview with the AP. "They don't realize we're also the water and wastewater treatment operators and that it's our job to patch potholes, for heaven's sake."

According to the park authorities, the announcement of cuts from the National Parks Services memo could mean hiring freezes and furloughs of permanent staff.

"There's no fat left to trim in the Park Service budget," said John Garder of the National Park Conservation Association, a nonprofit parks advocacy group, to the AP. "In the scope of a year of federal spending, these cuts would be permanently damaging and save 15 minutes of spending."