When members of the Arizona Natural History Association came to check on the Red Rock Ranger Station Visitors Center and pick up trash, what they found was disheartening.

The trash cans were overflowing, and garbage covered the ground of the entryway — it had only been little over one week into the partial federal government shutdown that closed national parks and forests. 

“People feel like they can get away with a little bit more,” said Tori Marshall, education and interpretation coordinator for the association. 

“People feel like it’s okay to just leave their trash all over the porch if we weren’t here. I can’t imagine what would’ve happened if we had come here any later.”

While cleaning up the mess, Marshall and the rest of the small ANHA staff encountered a stream of curious visitors that seemed uninterrupted. 

“We were like, well gosh, we’re getting this many people, we might as well set up out on the porch and see what we can do,” Marshall said. 

For four days, ANHA set up booths on the porch of the center and tried to proceed as if it were business as usual — answering questions and recommending activities — all the while seeking permission from the furloughed U.S. Forest Service staff to re-open and operate the building.  

Eventually, the one person who could give ANHA permission to open up the facility and run it — Red Rock District Ranger Nicole Branton — did so. 

Now, the ANHA is operating the building and volunteer-staffing the center and running the gift shop. The ANHA operates in three of Arizona’s national forests; the RRRD Visitors Center is the only center open. 

Marshall said that she estimates 60 percent of everyone she encountered didn’t know about basic details of the shutdown, or at least didn’t understand how it would affect their vacations. 

“A lot of people come up from Montezuma [Castle] and Tuzigoot [national momuments] and see that the Grand Canyon is open and think that everything will still be open,” Marshall said. 

The state is currently paying to keep its nickname-sake park open, but virtually all else remains unfunded. It has been especially tough for the smaller nonprofits that partner with the Forest Service, which have entered into the shutdown with already limited resources. 

“As a nonprofit partner, we don’t get back pay,” Marshall said. 

“I haven’t had a paycheck since before Christmas. In the last week and a half we’ve been volunteering to get enough money to basically get a paycheck.”  

Typically, the nature of the ANHA-USFS partnership entails the association running all of the bookstores and helping fund education programs, research and various special projects. 

“It does feel strange to be here without Forest Service personnel, because they’re who we work with and who we work for,” said Marshall, lamenting the impasse that arises when someone inquires about stuff that only USFS staff can handle, like senior passes and permitting issues.   But the ANHA staff of less than 10 is not alone. 

“They first contacted us all by email,” said Judy Berg, who was helping staff the front desk during an unusually busy Friday morning in January. 

“We said we’d love to help. We’re volunteers anyway.” Berg normally volunteers for both the Friends of the Forest and the Sedona Chamber of Commerce Visitors Center in Uptown. Numerous FOF volunteers from the organization’s deep network are helping ANHA staff the center, albeit without their FOF name tag and apparel; unlike the ANHA, the FOF operates under an agreement with the USFS that states that they can only work under the direction of USFS staff. Marshall said one of the main reasons for that stipulation is that FOF members work under USFS insurance coverage, which is suspended. 

“The first question people ask us is do you have a bathroom, and we don’t,” said Berg, who noted that the influx of visitors could be correlated with a big car show in Scottsdale. 

The bathrooms in the facility are locked, as they are unable to be cleaned — the contract for the cleaning company being yet another thing that froze with the USFS’ hard operations shutdown. 

“I don’t know anything about that situation, but I know Nicole is doing her best to get that worked out for us so we can open those,” Marshall said. None of the displays in the center are functional, and though there have been eager and willing volunteers, there are still not enough people to effectively take care of the countless phone calls coming in, so for now, phones are being left unanswered. Another consequence of the shutdown is that the ANHA staff is behind on ordering work from local artists and residents, which it normally sells in shops throughout the forests. 

“When a shutdown happens, and we’re not making money, then nobody’s getting that money,” Marshall said. 

With law enforcement rangers continuing to work 40-hour weeks without pay and other ranger district personnel unable to work, Marshall said she worries about the ANHA’s fate as well should the shutdown continue much longer. 

“We’re a tiny nonprofit. We don’t have the deep pockets to make it through something like this,” Marshall said. 

“There’s no saying if this lasts longer that we’ll make it though. There’s no guarantee we’ll survive this.” 

The trash cans outside have been taped over with notes asking visitors to find other means of disposal. On the doors, there are signs alerting people to the fact that everyone they will encounter inside is dedicating their time without pay — many not by choice, unlike Marshall — and that donations would be much appreciated. 

Marshall said the association encourages people to stop by the visitors center and shop, as well as check out merchandise on aznaturalhistory.org and consider donating there. The ANHA is also still looking for more volunteers to help keep the center open so that revenue can be generated. Though the ANHA faces attrition, Marshall said that the ANHA staff and the community volunteers can hang their hats on one thing: “People are grateful we’re here.”