The Whims of Men

In the wee hours of the morning, the federal government shutdown. It's being described as simply a partial shutdown, and I suppose that's true only because 9 of the 15 Cabinet level departments are closing, and not all 15 (DOJ, the military, etc are all funded in a previous bill). but it minimizes the disastrous effects for people, recreation, the outdoors, and public lands.

The Department of the Interior is now closed.

That includes the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the National Park Service (NPS), the US Geological Survey (USGS),  the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to name a few big agencies with the Interior umbrella.  The US Forest Service (within the Department of Agriculture) is also closed.

For the general public, this means that public lands are no longer open. And if there are areas that remain accessible, there are no visitor services or staff available. Visitor centers, bathrooms, campgrounds, and the like are all closed.

But more importantly in my mind, is that all operations for management, restoration, and conservation are now interrupted because of the whims of politicians.

National wildlife refuges, which often support wintering waterfowl and waterbird populations, are managed to provide optimal conditions for these animals and have to cease management operations.

The US Forest Service, which manages national forests and provides the fire response team for public lands, is closed. All management operations are suspended.

Coastal restoration projects and management at many of the coastal NWRs must stop. These places are often highly dynamic and fluctuate daily and all efforts are stopped.

These are just a few examples. There is much field research being conducted on federal property, by federal employees, contractors, grad students, and nonprofit organizations.

The longterm effects of the shutdown may ultimately be minimal, but we don't know that to be true yet. Interrupting research, management, and conservation activities will have ramifications. It's not as flashy as "the national parks are closed" headlines but in reality I think it's the more important aspect of this. We'll likely never know how the government shutdown affected individual projects but from my own experience, even a week or two interruption in data collection can have disastrous effects for any study.

Operating on a series of continuing resolutions is no way to operate a budget. Budgeting 101 is to have a plan LONG in advance. So not only do we need a plan now, to get back on track and to continue conservation efforts and land management, but we need a longterm plan for the future too.