"The complex web of air monitoring networks in the nation’s national parks is bogged down under the government shutdown, widening weak spots in an already underfunded and overstretched network.
The US National Park Service operates a nationwide air quality monitoring system of more than 300 sites in and around parks through its Air Resources Division, measuring an array of pollutants and meteorological data points, including haze levels mandated by the Clean Air Act.
No park monitors have gone offline during this shutdown, but the system of maintenance, monitoring, data gathering, and analysis that is crucial to the visitor experience and national air data can experience interruptions under a federal funding lapse.
Even a common equipment malfunction can go unrepaired in a shutdown, and if that mechanism measures something like wildfire smoke, those measurements for air quality are interrupted, according to a current, furloughed national park employee who spoke anonymously because they weren’t authorized to discuss the issue."
Jennifer Hijazi reports for Bloomberg Environment October 28, 2025.
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