Grand Canyon National Park Will Open Saturday

October 13, 2013

Grand Canyon National Park will open Saturday. That announcement came this afternoon after Gov. Jan Brewer and the federal government reached an agreement.

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is scheduled to reopen Saturday. (Photo by Peter O'Dowd-KJZZ)

The national park had been closed since last week due to the federal government shutdown. Gov. Brewer had offered to have the state pay for the park operations. The Department of the Interior initially said no, and then Arizona and other states were told maybe. Friday afternoon the governor’s office tweeted the announcement that an agreement was reached.

Coconino County Supervisor Art Babbott said the closure has hurt his county.

"The reality that we are doing supplemental food deliveries for workers up in Tusayan is just really really heartbreaking," Babbott said.

Arizona will pay to keep the park open for a week paying a little more than $650,000. Meanwhile Utah’s governor has forked over more than $1.5 million to reopen five of that state’s national parks, two monuments and one recreation area.

Ally Isom is the deputy chief of staff for Utah Governor Gary Herbert.

"We understand the net economic impact far exceeds this funding. We also very much appreciate that our national parks have received a significant amount of media attention in the last 24 hours. That far exceeds the investment we’re making in reopening the parks," Isom said.

Arizona and the other states paying for national park operations hope to get reimbursed by the federal government when the shutdown is over.