Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge in Colorado feels impacts of federal government shutdown

Across more than 20 trails and sprawling wildlife is a wildlife refuge nestled within the Denver metro area. And it is not immune to the federal government shutdown, now in its 23rd day.

"I was actually amazed at how big it is and how many animals you can see," said Kory Larvie.

Larvie and his family came to visit the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge for the first time this month.

"We drive by it all the time, and we always see the buffalo signs and for once were like, we're going to check it out," said Larvie.

However, instead of witnessing the wild, his family saw something they weren't expecting: signs on the visitor center, located in Commerce City, alerting people at the refuge the building was closed.

"It's just disappointing having people come up to the building, and rather than be greeted by a volunteer they're turned away by a paper sign," said Vanessa Thurk.

"It kind of sucks because it's all shut down because of the government," said Larvie.

Thurk is the Executive Director of Friends of the Front Range Wildlife Refuges, the nonprofit that supports Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge.

"(On) Oct. 1 we had to close the visitor center, which includes our Nature's Nest store inside the visitors center," said Thurk.

Nature's Nest, the gift shop inside the visitors center, has lost more than $18,000 since Oct. 1 and 40 volunteers across the refuge have been impacted by the shutdown.

"Volunteers were asked to stop work because we're not allowed to have fish and wildlife activities on site," said Thurk. "We're also missing out on the funding we receive for those volunteer hours."

Other things on site were also put on pause, including ranger programs, school trips and parts of the park are currently inaccessible to visitors.

"We've been trying to support the mental health of our staff during this time," said Thurk.

"It's crazy. You don't think it would impact you, but simple stuff like this, like going and adventuring and trying to see nature, it does hit you close to home," said Larvie.

Yet, for the community that supports Rocky Mountain Arsenal, they remain hopeful the shutdown will only be a temporary dip in their ability to continue to provide access to nature for visitors.

"We will definitely be back," said Larvie.

People can help support the refuge during this time by visiting the Friends of the Front Range Wildlife Refuges web site: ffrwr.org.