Many national parks remain open during the pandemic. The man in charge explains why.
Grand Teton National Park is closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. (Courtesy U.S. National Park Service/)This story originally featured on Outdoor Life.In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19, national parks superintendents closed Yellowstone and Grand Teton. All Illinois state lands were closed. In Oregon, state parks, national parks, and the Columbia River Gorge are closed.Meanwhile in New York State, the epicenter of the outbreak, public lands remain mostly open. So who is in charge of deciding what public lands stay accessible and which ones close? And, how are they making their decisions?Well, that’s complicated. In short, the fate of each type of public land is up to that land’s managing agency. So state lands remain open or get closed by each state’s governor. National forests are overseen by directors and the agency itself falls under the U.S. Department of Agriculture. National parks, BLM land, refuges, and monuments...