Pursuant to 36 CFR § 1.5(a)(I) the National Capital Parks-East is continuing the temporary closure of National Park Service facilities and the limitation of some activities to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. The National Park Service initially enacted these restrictions on March 20, 2020, in response to guidance and advisories from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). A Record of Determination (ROD) was extended several times through November 23, 2020. The National Capital Parks-East maintained limited closures as it resumed additional operations.
The remaining facility closures to public access at the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site, the Carter G. Woodson National Historic Site, and Fort DuPont Amphitheater will continue. National Capital Parks-East will close public restroom facilities for the winter with the exception of public restroom facilities at Aquatic Resource Education Center (AREC). These closures will remain in effect until further notice.
Pursuant to 36 CFR § l .5(a)(1), the National Park Service issued a public use limitation for all permitted events and demonstrations covered by the regulations at 36 CFR 7.96 for the Interior Region 1 - National Capital Area (NCA), which includes National Capital Parks-East. The National Park Service will continue issuing permits for demonstrations, photography, and special events within the National Capital Parks-East.
Following CDC guidance and best practices from sports governing bodies, the National Park Service will only allow organized athletic activity with a low to medium amount of risk. Acceptable uses include skill-based drills, conditioning and team-based practices. The National Park Service will not issue permits for organized athletic leagues including volleyball, softball, football, rugby and other organized team sports, or allow formal gameplay to occur in the park.
The temporary closures are not of a nature, magnitude or duration that will result in a "significant alteration in the public use pattern." The closures will not adversely affect the park's natural aesthetic or cultural values, nor require significant modification to the resource management objection, nor is it of a highly controversial nature.
Accordingly, the National Park Service determines publication as rulemaking in the Federal Register is unwarranted under 36 CFR § 1.5(c). This is consistent with hundreds of earlier partial and temporary park closures or public use limitations, the legal opinion of the Office of the Solicitor, and judicial adjudications. Mahoney v. Norton, No. 02-1715 (D.D.C. August 29, 2002), plaintiff’s emergency motion for injunction pending appeal denied Mahoney v. Norton, No. 02-5275 (D.C. Cir. September 9, 2002) (per curiam); Picciotto v. United States, No. 99-2113 (D.D.C. August 6, 1999); Picciotto v. United States, No. 94-1935(D.D.C. September 9, 1994); Picciotto v. Lujan, No. 90-1261 (D.D.C. May 30, 1990); Picciotto v. Hodel, No. 87-3290 (D.D.C. January 26, 1988); Spiegel v. Babbitt, 855 F. Supp. 402 (D.D.C.1994), aff'd in part w/o op. 56 F.3d 1531 (D.C. Cir. 1995), reported in full, 1995 US App. Lexis 15200 (D.C. Cir. May 31, 1995). Pursuant to 36 C.F.R. § 1.7, notice of this public use limitation will be made through media advisories, maps, and by posting at conspicuous locations in the affected park areas. Finally, pursuant to 36 C.F.R. § 1.5(c), this determination is available to the public upon request.
/s/ Tara D. Morrison, Superintendent, National Capital Parks - East
January 26, 2021
