Despite federal government shutdown, these national parks are mostly open in North Carolina

The Blue Ridge Mountains as seen from the Blue Ridge Parkway, Oct. 1, 2025. (USA Today via Reuters)

By USA Today via Reuters

October 2, 2025

What to know about the Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina as the federal government shutdown begins.

The federal government shut down at midnight on Oct. 1. The extent of its impact and how long it will last remain unclear, said a Western North Carolina political analyst, but he doesn’t think it will be a short one.

“It feels like an incredibly important and fraught moment. We’ve got extreme partisan polarization, we have extreme gridlock, and now we have a government that is not being funded,” said Chris Cooper, a professor of political science and public affairs at Western Carolina University.

Are Blue Ridge Parkway, Great Smoky Mountains NP open?

If the shutdown drags on, the region could see impacts to its national parks, including the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Cooper said he is watching to see to what degree the parks will close or reduce facilities.

This was of particular concern as WNC approaches the peak of fall color season, with October among Asheville’s highest visitation months. Last year’s leaf peeping was halted by Tropical Storm Helene, a significant blow to area tourism.

According to its website, the parkway is open as of Wednesday morning, except for Helene-related closures near Linville and Little Switzerland. There are also closures in northern sections near the Virginia state line due to multi-year road construction projects.

Closed signs hung on the Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center in Asheville. A parkway spokesperson sent an out-of-office email reply, stating they were not authorized to work and that questions should be directed to the National Park Service office in Washington, D.C.

“The National Park Service will continue to keep parks as accessible as possible during the lapse in appropriations,” a park service spokesperson told the Citizen Times Oct. 1. “Critical functions that protect life, property, and public health will remain in place, including visitor access in many locations, law enforcement, and emergency response.”

Eastern National, which runs the gift shops in the Folk Art Center and the Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center in Asheville, did not respond to Citizen Times requests for comment.

In the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the following facilities are closed, according to the park’s website:

Cades Cove Loop Road
Cades Cove Picnic Area
Cades Cove Visitor Center
Chimneys Picnic Area
Sugarlands Visitor Center

Most park roads, lookouts and open-trail memorials will remain open, according to the NPS’ contingency plan. Sanitation, trash collection, road maintenance, campground operations, staffing entrance gates, law enforcement and emergency operations will continue as necessary.

“Park websites and social media will not be maintained, except for emergency communications. Parks will not provide regular road or trail condition updates,” the document reads.

As Cooper considered possible impacts, he also referenced the about 750,000 people that could be furloughed each day, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, withholding about $400 million in daily compensation.

“Those workers might have been planning a trip to Western North Carolina during the height of tourist season, and they might not be in a financial position to do that anymore,” Cooper said.

“Just the uncertainty that a shutdown like this can provide will reverberate through the economy at the worst possible time for our region.”

The NPS is expected to furlough 9,296 employees, per their contingency plan. The parkway only resumed services to one of its most popular stretches in mid-September after the National Park Service announced the completion of landslide repairs caused by Helene near Mt. Mitchell State Park.

Though parkway gates have remained open during previous shutdowns, it has led to significant service impacts along the iconic scenic byway.

In 2019, the last federal government shut down, some gates were closed, the Citizen Times reported, blocking vast swathes of the road. Maintenance staff were furloughed, and trees fell blocking sections.

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Is the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site open?

An answering machine message at the Carl Sandburg Home Oct. 1 said that staff will be out of office until federal funding for the site resumes.

An NPS spokesperson declined a Sept. 30 interview request regarding how the federal shutdown will affect operations at the site.

Are WNC’s national forests open?

The United States Forest Service will have an estimated five days to complete shutdown activities, according to the department’s Lapse in Funding Plan. But Pisgah and Nantahala national forests will remain open to visitors, at least for now.

A spokesperson with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the forest service, said national forests and grasslands will remain open to visitors. Wildland firefighting and disaster response will continue. However, this may change depending on the length of the shutdown, the spokesperson said.

“Roads, campgrounds and other sites throughout all of North Carolina’s four national forests — Pisgah and Nantahala in the mountains, Uwharrie in the Piedmont and Croatan on the coast — remain open at least for the short term,” according to Visit NC.

Naventure, which manages campgrounds and recreation areas in the Pisgah National Forest, does not anticipate any of their sites will be impacted by the government shutdown, according to General Manager Cindy Pearce.

“However, we are awaiting official guidance from the U.S. Forest Service. If there are any closures, we will share updates on our social media channels as well as through recreation.gov for any reservation holders,” Pearce said in a statement to the Citizen Times.

Should there be a closure, the campground host will contact those on site directly, she added.

Checking the weather before going to the parks?

The National Weather Service will continue issuing weather watches and warnings as normal, spokesperson Erica Grow Cei told the Citizen Times via email.

When asked if any employees were furloughed, she said NWS “cannot provide further comment at this time.”

WNC representatives weigh in

U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, a second-term Republican representing much of Western North Carolina, said in an Oct. 1 statement that the government “must reopen.”

“Democrats in the House and the Senate have chosen partisan politics over the safety and security of the American people — a true injustice to millions of Americans,” he said.

Edwards said that votes against the temporary spending bill, known as a continuing resolution, “halts payments to the men and women of our armed forces, weakens border security, opens the door to hardship on America’s seniors, and blocks much-needed relief for the victims of Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina.”

Both U.S. senators representing North Carolina, Ted Budd and Thom Tillis, voted for the Republican proposal to keep the government at existing funding levels through Nov. 21.

Budd said Oct. 1 on social media platform X, that Democrats are “holding the nation hostage to appease their radical left base.”

Democrats demanded concessions to health care in exchange for their votes to bypass the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, such as the reversal of Medicaid cuts and the extension of enhanced health insurance subsidies, USA TODAY reported.

Of the shutdown’s impact on Helene recovery efforts, Budd said while debris removal and emergency protective programs will continue, other reimbursements may be delayed, like road and bridge repair and work on dams and levees.

In an Oct. 1 statement to the Citizen Times, Tillis spokesperson Daniel Keylin said “this shutdown couldn’t come at a worse time for Western North Carolina.”

“It is especially reckless for Democrats to vote for a shutdown considering we are in the midst of hurricane season and FEMA doesn’t have the money it needs to respond to another devastating storm like Helene,” the statement said.

This story will be updated.

Reporting by Ryley Ober, Sarah Honosky and Will Hofmann, Asheville Citizen Times / Asheville Citizen Times

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