KOUNTZE, Texas — The last 8 years, on the weekend around the celebration of Martin Luther King day you would normal see Erika Pelletier at the Big Thicket National Park in Kountze serving her community.
“This would have been out 9th year to do the tree planting where we would've added to that number 15,000 trees," Pelletier said.
Trees are planted to keep the park fresh, but this year a closed park has stopped them dead in their trails.
“Due to the government shutdown we are not allowed to be here planting out trees for safety reasons and also because the park is closed," Pelletier said.
On Saturday President Donald Trump announced plans for a compromise to hopefully end the longest shutdown in American History.
"Straight forward, fair, reasonable, and common sense and compromise," President Trump said.
It’s a plan that has seemed to fall on deaf ears, and with no definite timeline to the end of the shutdown, Pelletier hopes to get the 15,000 trees planted before it’s too late.
She asks lawmakers to bring an end to the shutdown.
"The National Parks Conservation Association calls on congress and the White House to come together to fully fund our parks and to get our government back open so that our rangers can comeback out and do the job that they love," Pelletier said.