Shutdown would hit national parks hard

WASHINGTON, April 8 (UPI) -- U.S. national parks stand to lose $32 million in revenue daily if the federal government closes down, the Park Service says.

From the Statue of Liberty to the Grand Canyon, 800,000 daily visitors would be turned away, spokesman David Barna told CNN.

"These parks are the economic engines of some communities," he said. "They're often the largest employer in an area."

The National Park Service Web site, the most popular in the federal government with 1 million daily hits, Barna said, will post an out-of-service notice in the event of shutdown.

About 17,000 Park Service employees would be furloughed, plus 15,000 private contract workers.

A shutdown also would affect re-enactments of the beginning of the Civil War at Fort Sumter in the Charleston, S.C., harbor, whose 150th anniversary comes Tuesday.

Charleston has been planning the commemoration for years.

Tuesday's re-enactment of the April 12, 1861, Confederate bombardment is expected to go forward regardless, with guns fired off federal land. But hundreds of re-enactors who planned to camp at the fort would find it locked.

"We were expecting 2,000 visitors a day from now until Easter," said Rick Mosteller, whose tour company ferries Civil War buffs to Fort Sumter.