The show of state muscle at the Grand Canyon on Friday cost about $10,000, but Gov. Fife Symington's office says it was "well worth it."
Symington wrote letters to President Clinton and Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt on Monday asking that they work together to avoid a similar shutdown of Grand Canyon National Park if the president and Congress reach another budget impasse Dec. 15.Symington told reporters Sunday that he thought the mustering of 50 National Guard troops and 25 state Parks Department employees helped put pressure on the administration to compromise with Congress.
"It (the confrontation) was on the front page of just about every newspaper in America," Symington's spokesman said.
But Sierra Club official Rob Smith said the governor's actions "didn't result in anything.
"Simply going up there and beating on the park gates with the press around, knowing the feds were going to say no, didn't get it done."
The canyon reopened to visitors Monday.