Park Service not supporting Effigy Mounds during shutdown

The Effigy Mounds National Monument, which protects more than 200 mounds, including over 30 animal- or bird-shaped 'effigy” mounds for which the park is named, is not being supported by the National Park Service during the partial government shutdown.

The Park Service is required under shutdown provisions to notify visitors to lands it oversees that it will 'cease providing visitor services, including restrooms, trash collection, facilities and roads maintenance (including plowing), campground reservation and check in/checkout services, backcountry and other permits and public information.”

The monument, near Harpers Ferry by the Mississippi River, was established as a national site on Oct. 25, 1949. It is considered a sacred landscape by members of many modern-day Native American tribes whose ancestors once lived here.

A call Thursday to its visitors center did not go through.